Zootopia - Blurring Lines
by roboguy88
Summary: Judy and Nick are partners in the force - but could they be more? When a catastrophic event once again throws their lives, and the lives of every mammal in Zootopia, into chaos, there's only one place to turn - each other. Shameless WildeHopps shipping. SFW, but still shameless.
1. Chapter 1 - Judy

A/N: This being my first fanfiction (or even, document over 2000 words), I would really appreciate any creative criticism or ideas being left in the comments. As I am a high school student, I do have various obligations (homework, exams etc.) which need to be fulfilled, and as such, I may not push out a chapter very often. I should be able to write (hopefully) at least another chapter over the school holidays before my nose is pressed back to the grindstone.

Enjoy!

The muffled _thunk_ of a mug hitting the table punctuated the silence in the office. My ears twitched, and my tired eyes slowly rolled upwards to find the source of disturbance.

'Hey, Whiskers,' said a familiar smirking voice. 'Didn't know you were planning a sleepover at work.'

I yawned as I took in my surroundings, which now resembled a nest of papers.

'Oh, no,' I mumbled groggily, 'how long have I been out? The chief won't like paying me for taking a nap'.

'Only a few… hours' teased Nick, grinning and scratching the side of his face nonchalantly.

I swung my chair squeakily around to face the clock, which seemed to taunt me with its confirmation of Nick's statement.

It was an hour past the end of my late office shift. I groaned.

'Why didn't you wake me up earlier?'

'Well, I dunno about _bunnies_ , but us foxes tend to wanna sleep for as long as we can.'

'Yes, but in a _bed_ would be nice,' I replied, rolling my eyes hugely.

Nick pretended to consider this for a moment. 'I dunno Fluff, you looked pretty happy to me.'

'Oh, shut up' I said, trying to feign annoyance but ruining the effect by smiling. However irritated I was with myself for falling asleep in the first place, I _was_ grateful that the thought had eventually crossed Nick's mind to wake me up.

'Come on, Carrots' he spoke softly, offering a paw. I grabbed the coffee off the table with one paw and allowed myself to be lifted out of the chair. Taking a small sip of the boiling liquid, I forced my stiff legs to move. As I reached the door, I glanced backwards and caught Nick looking at me with something like… pity? Seeing my gaze, he quickly turned and begun the process of making our shared desk look presentable again.

That seemed nice of him… with his track record of 'jokes' I supposed I was lucky I hadn't woken up with Zu-Tack stuck in my ear fur. But he had brought coffee and was now covering up the mess I'd made.

Shaking my head wearily, I made my way outside into the night air still thinking about the day's events. We'd gotten through sorting eight stacks of paperwork, which was now being swept off the floor. Oh, well. The joys of having a boring office duty in the Resource Department twice a week were lost on both of us. At least it meant I got to spend time with Nick. His presence by my side made office days, if not enjoyable, at least bearable.

My mind swirled back to yesterday, when we'd had an actual assignment in Savannah Central.

I stopped, dumbstruck, and my ears flew up in alarm. My thoughts whirled. Could that be it? The reason Nick had been treating me strangely… Nick had, more or less, asked me whether I loved him. I'd answered yes because, well, I _do_ love him… but I didn't think he took me seriously. And did I even like him in that way? What had seemed a simple enough comment on his personality at the time might have meant more to him than I was expecting… I wondered silently, gazing upwards at the dark sky. He'd been behaving, well, _strangely_ toward me, ever since the Night Howler case, and even before he was inducted into the force.

But no, I thought, mentally shaking myself, he's Nick. A good friend, but… what mammals would say if they found out I liked a fox…

That night, I was extremely restless. Worries about what people would say if a rabbit asked her fox police partner out kept jabbing me, keeping me just above sleep. Even _he_ would probably be embarrassed. Darn it, _I_ would be embarrassed if he asked _me._ And, to put the tip on the carrot, I had his 'never let them see they get to you,' façade to thank for not knowing for _sure_ if he liked me… in _that_ way. As a love interest. Well, there was only one way to know for sure. I resolved myself to ask him outright. At least that way I'd know for certain. And with that thought, I tucked my ears and rolled, at last, into the warm embrace of sleep.

* * *

 _Beeeep. Beeeep. Beeeep._

The tinny sound of my alarm brought me sharply back to reality.

Blinking in the stream of warm sunlight filtering through my thin curtain, I rolled over and clicked in the snooze button with the tip of my index claw.

I felt exhausted, as though sleep had evaded me for days, not hours, and it was with reluctance that I dragged myself out of the warm covers and got dressed.

Yawning, I picked my way through traffic down to the ZPD, sipping a Snarlbucks carrot spice latte.

'Mor-ing, 'u-dy!' exclaimed Clawhauser around the doughnuts stuffed in his cheeks. I giggled, watching him struggle to swallow quickly.

'Hey, Ben!' I replied, with a caffeine-boosted smile. I walked straight through to the bullpen, where Chief Bogo was already calling roll.

'Hopps!'

'Here!' I had a sudden flashback to my first day of high school. I remembered it vividly; the teacher had been calling our names off the list, and I was so nervous that I didn't hear my name being called. The embarrassment had made me want to burrow into the ground and never come out.

'Grizzoli!'

'Here!'

'McHorn!'

'Here.'

'Trunkaby!'

'Here.'

I looked back at the door to see Nick stroll in just in time to say,

'Here!'.

'Right now, there have been a few complaints from… _certain_ members of the public about the conduct of several officers on parking duty… well, one officer, mostly.' He looked pointedly in my direction and I shifted sheepishly, knowing that my overzealous ticketing had been something of a public annoyance.

'But, I disagree with the public. It's not _arrogance,_ or being a _nuisance._ If you asked me, I'd call that efficiency, Hopps.'

'Oh, um… thanks, Chief,' I mumbled, not having expected praise for filling Bogo's in-tray with misconduct complaints.

I glanced at Nick at saw him looking at me strangely again. His ears lowered and he turned away. _Definitely_ suspicious behaviour.

'Officers Hopps and Wilde!' barked the Chief. 'I have a case that might be _worthy_ of your attention,' his voice was dripping with sarcasm. He obviously thought he'd complimented us enough. 'A family of naked mole-rats has gone missing from their home. No blood, no signs that anything happened other than they decided to all go out for an evening stroll. Evidence seems scarce, but I think you two might be able to scrape together enough of your wits to solve it.'

'Naked mole-rats? Chief, we already have our first lead!' exclaimed Nick.

'Yes?' asked Bogo expectantly.

I was already groaning internally at the joke I knew he'd make.

'We need to check that naturalist club,' he said in a total deadpan voice, but still struggling to contain his delight at his own crummy pun. I burst out laughing and paw-bumped him. There were some guffaws from the mammals around us, but the Chief was looking daggers.

'Officer Wilde, be serious!' he growled, slamming his hoof on the lectern and making the pages in front of him flutter. 'Now start your investigation by collecting the file!' He waved the file in question in front of our faces and I snatched it. Opening it, I noted the home's address.

'We'll get going then, Chief!' I said happily. Nick and I strolled out of the room, while I snagged the key for the smallest cruiser in the fleet.

'You know, I reckon _I_ should drive the cruiser' said Nick pedantically, holding out his paw.

'Why, because all foxes are good drivers?' I scoffed, closing my paw tighter around the key and holding it out of his reach. 'No, we've been through this a _million_ times. _I_ am the better driver - also, the only one of us with a licence.' As I plopped into the comfortable drivers side seat, he slid into the passenger seat and closed the door. I kept the car in place and tried to gather my thoughts. It was now, or never.

'Nick…' I began slowly, turning to face him, 'I have to ask you something, and please don't take this the wrong way,' I hesitated. This was going to be difficult to phrase. I had the feeling I was asking the wrong question. I bit my lip and folded my ears carefully, tapping my foot and willing the right words to come, that would explain how I felt without sounding so abrupt. 'It's about that time, when we were about to catch Flash… and, it's sort of about ever since you became part of the force, or even since you stood up for me in front of Bogo, I really…' I broke off. He had a sly grin on his face, and his fluffy ears were pricked with interest.

'Dumb fox,' I muttered, planting my face in my paws, 'you know what this is about, don't you?' Still smiling nervously, he nodded.

'Judy, every time I look at you, do you know what I'm supposed to see? We're natural enemies. In the past, I would have tried to hunt you down. Moving past that, we're police partners. We care for each other. But ever since I met you, I can't help it. I care _about_ you. I see you as _more_ than just a friend. Whenever you're away, I don't feel _whole_ , a-and,' he trailed off as I looked up into his intelligent green eyes. It was strange, watching as the mask fell from them. For one of the very few times since I'd known him, I was seeing the real Nick at his most vulnerable. I could tell that he hadn't planned to just blurt out his feelings. Even in Zootopia, one of the most liberally-minded cities in the world, inter-species relationships were something often looked down upon.

'Are you sure you don't need your eyes checked?' I asked in a half-hearted attempt to break the tension. He snorted, looking relieved at the excuse to stop talking.

'But seriously, Nick,' I spoke low and rapidly while discreetly tossing the dash-cam memory card out of the window, 'I feel the same way about you.' I squirmed and tugged my ears nervously, feeling as awkward as an elephant on a tightrope. 'After all we've been through, all the times we saved each other…' I shuddered, remembering vividly the abject terror of being hunted by Mr. Manchas when he turned savage… 'well, you've been special to me ever since. But we can't be together. Not in _that_ way, at least. It's not natural. My dad would freak out, you know he's still… still _jumpy_ around foxes.' I could tell he was disappointed, but I wasn't going to change my mind. The social stigma of being a high-profile cop in a… _questionable…_ relationship would be overwhelming. I would never do that to anyone, least of all Nick, even if it meant breaking his heart. I felt horrible.

The silence was abruptly broken by the crackling of the police radio. I twitched in a half-leap of surprise, my feet thumping against the accelerator and throwing us forward a few meters. Two voices were issuing from the speaker, clearly competing to be heard through the microphone.

'…but Chief, you don't…'

'Of _course_ I have…!'

'…you don't understand…'

'It's a clear breach of protocol, let me…!'

A small _squelch_ echoed from the radio, as though the microphone had been adjusted.

'OFFICERS HOPPS AND WILDE!' I flinched at the bellow.

'WHAT THE _HELL_ DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?! GET MOVING! YOU'VE BEEN BLOCKING THE EXIT ROAD FOR FIVE. WHOLE. MINUTES! YOU SHOULD GET A PARKING FINE! WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELVES?'

'Sorry, Chief, we were just… distracted. There was… a bee in the car' Nick invented quickly, somehow knowing that the savvy Cape Buffalo wouldn't be entirely convinced.

'A _BEE?_ A _BEE,_ WILDE?! DO YOU THINK I AM _ENTIRELY_ STUPI-'

The rest of Bogo's piercing words were drowned by a distant bang, followed by a long rumble that shook the car.

'That didn't come from the radio…' muttered Nick, looking, with his ears laid far back, just as frightened as I felt. Once the sound had died down, a yell was audible from the small radio unit. With my sensitive hearing, I could just pick out a few words in between the _cracks_ and _hisses_ of interference.

'Getting signal….level one?….oh, _crap!_ ' I blinked in surprise at the last word, wondering what could possibly have made one of the experienced radio operators lose their professional cool.

'Come in! What's the situation?' I spoke, leaning in toward the radio with great apprehension.

The voices ignored us, continuing to communicate urgently with one another.

Then, out of the panic-stricken background noise came the _squeak_ of the microphone stand being turned again, and this time it was Clawhauser who spoke.

'You two have _got_ to get to Tundratown as fast as you can! We're getting emergency calls all over the place. Now _go!_ ' I'd never heard Ben sound so panicked. I took a deep breath, hit the siren button, and put the pedal to the metal. With a screeching of tyres, the cruiser swerved out onto the main road and began building up to a speed no reasonable mammal would call 'cruising'.

Even though the situation was serious, I wouldn't deny that driving at top speed was fun. I could barely keep from snorting with laughter when I looked around and saw Nick with his paw on his muzzle and his eyes closed, looking like he was about to add some unwanted decoration to the dashboard.

'Carrots? Next time, I'm driving,' he managed.

Luckily for us, road conditions were relatively clear. Still zigzagging occasionally, I was only half-listening to the report coming in on the police radio.

'…looks like some kind of terrorist attack' Clawhauser was speaking agitatedly, occasionally conversing with the other radio operators, who were receiving updates from the scene of the explosion. 'The blast demolished a street of buildings. As far as we've heard, a bomb was set in or near the house of a predator-rights campaigner.' I flinched at the news. This sounded too targeted, too focused. Whoever had set the explosive knew what they were doing, and that could mean we ran the risk of being targeted ourselves. It wouldn't be the first time; in the Zootopia Police Academy, we were often told stories of how evacuation assignments had gone belly-up as examples. I knew the dangers well. Everyone did. But I kept driving toward Tundra Town, following the directions Ben was relaying.

'Here!'

I jerked the wheel to the left. As the cruiser screeched to a stop outside the hastily organised police cordon, Nick slipped his aviators off as though he didn't believe his own excellent vision.

'Oh, sweet cheese and crackers' I whispered, feeling my ears and mouth drop simultaneously in horror, and my eyes widen.

The scene before us was one of utter devastation. Roof tiles and beams littered the snowy ground, some leaving charred gouges in the road beneath. Fire and ice mixed, as the heat of the blast had caught two more houses ablaze.

I leaned in and spoke urgently to the radio, gabbling out a request for fire crews and paramedics.

'Roger that, Hopps.' It was a different dispatcher this time, probably one of the trainees.

'Hurry! Fluff, we need to get out and find survivors!' barked Nick, who was already sprinting towards the buildings, his tail flaring behind him like a red banner. I opened my door and sprinted furiously towards the wreckage, my hind paws digging up snow as I closed the distance.

The destruction seemed to become worse the closer I got. The blackened shell of the house at the centre of the explosion was smoking, and as I watched another wall collapsed inward. I forced myself to look away. One thing was clear: anyone in that building was too far gone. Biting back a whimper, I turned my attention to the surrounding area, frantically pivoting my ears to hopefully, _maybe_ pick out the sounds of survivors from the buzzing background noise.

A shrill cry echoed from a house down the street and funnelled into my left ear.

'Wilde! Over here!' I called, before realising he was no-where in sight. He must have found someone else, I realised, now myself sprinting towards the feeble mewling emanating from inside a scorched, half-collapsed ruin.

I hopped around the building, trying to find the source of the pitiful cry. A sudden clarity in the sound made my ear twitch, and I made an abrupt about-turn, homing in on the source. There! Under a piece of fallen timber was a tuft of light-grey fur, just visible beneath a dusting of the dark soot that had blanketed the street.

I carefully picked my way closer, wary of the ominous creaking noises made by the stressed structure.

'Hello?' I called, wondering if the creature was in a fit state to answer. 'Are you okay in there?' The mammal went silent. Then…

'Wh-who's there?' came a high-pitched voice. I recognised the timbre of the voice now. It was a rabbit… or at least, a hare. I sniffed, and was assaulted with the unpleasant aroma of _Eau de Burnt Pyjamas._ I tried to ignore that smell. My nose, while not as good as Nick's, could still pick out the difference between a rabbit and a hare, and this was definitely a hare. A very _young_ hare.

'Alright, I'm going to try and get you out. Just stay put for a second…' I felt my way around the log, my heartbeat rising in a panic as I realised just how perilous the situation was. My claws ticked against the wood as I ran them up and down, trying to figure out how to rescue the poor hare. It looked bad. While not badly injured, she was the only thing stopping the log from dipping further toward the ground, which would knock the already-hazardous house past its endurance.

'Think, think, think…' I muttered to myself, looking around for an idea.

'Where's my mama?' asked the hare, once again distracting me.

'I'm sure she's fine, sweetheart.' I reassured her, my gut twisting painfully at the lie. 'Alright, I've just got to get you out from there… hold on a second…'

I'd seen a possibility. A charred, but still solid-looking lump of wood was lying in the snow less than three metres away. I scrambled over to it for closer examination. It appeared to be the gutted remnants of a large wardrobe, but it would have to do. I carefully prised away a section of board, noticing as I did so that it was unpleasantly warm and sticky. And stained red. Steeling myself, I started to drag the piece through the thick snow, soon panting with the effort.

A few laboured steps later, and with no time to spare, I hauled the piece into place.

'Are you ready?' I directed at the kit.

'What're you going to do?' she replied uneasily, perhaps sensing the stress in my own voice.

'I'm getting you out of there. I just need to support the beam so it doesn't collapse… hang on a sec…' I could hear the uncertainty in my own voice. This was something I had never trained for, never even been expected to do.

I took a deep breath. This was either going to work, or it wasn't. I just had to try. I took another calming breath, trying to gather my strength, then placed my paws underneath the beam and pushed upwards. My arms shook with the tremendous effort.

'Get out! Quick!' I gasped hurriedly. The hare didn't need telling twice. She shot out like a fluffy white bullet, scrambling up the road to safety, and I gave a swift kick to the piece of wood.

And that was when everything went wrong. In my haste I missed my aim, knocking the plank of wood flying end-over-end past the beam. With no resistance, the heavy support collapsed onto the ground, delivering a fatal blow to the fragile shell behind it. I scrambled back on all four paws as a resounding boom and series of cracks rent the air, making the ground shake as the remaining support beams shattered and crumbled. The building teetered as though in slow motion, looming above like a flaming monster.

At that moment, the wind shifted, blowing sleet sideways down the street, and the fall changed direction, the outer wall slumping onto the house beside it with an echoing _crunch_. For a moment, it seemed as though it had settled. I slowly crawled to my hind paws, built-up snow sloshing off my legs and chest. Then the horror really began. A sudden blaze of light and heat swept the area. I blinked in surprise, squinting in the harsh light as the second house caught fire with surprising speed. The walls and roof ignited almost simultaneously as the flames roared from the top down, gas pipes popping with earsplitting metallic clangs. I watched, transfixed with horror, as the roof of the second building started to cave in.

A wailing siren brought be back to my senses. The cavalry was here. But where had Nick gone? I hadn't seen him since he had sprinted away from the car, his ears set forward purposefully, like he was… searching for something, or more likely, someone…

Seven massive vehicles, some nearly as tall as the remaining buildings, came roaring down the street, their tyres churning up snow in plumes either side. I scrambled to the side of the road, not wishing to become a Judy-pancake.

The firefighting crew wasted no time in killing the blaze, opening up with their high-pressure turret-mounted water cannons. The wreckage was another problem, however, and rescue crews started leaping out of ambulances and emergency response vehicles. Just in time to be no help to me whatsoever.

I was just looking around to make sure the young hare was safe when a quick succession of high-pitched beeps alerted me to a call on my walkie-talkie. I reached down with a shaky claw and clicked open the flap, sliding the device from its vinyl pouch.

'Carrots. Hopps! Can you hear me?' Nick's voice sounded from the tinny speaker, raised in urgency. I was so relieved to hear his familiar voice that I felt like crying.

 _Click_.

'I'm here. Where did you run off to?' I asked, noticing something strange as I did so. 'And why are you calling me on the coded line?' I could almost hear his guilt through the radio. He huffed, probably deciding he didn't have to answer the second question.

'You should come quickly. I'm in the next street to the north of you. _Please_ hurry! And… don't bother bringing a paramedic.'

'Er… please repeat, Officer Wilde?'

'Just get here quick, Hopps!' he groaned, shutting off the line with a final _beep._

I looked around to get my bearings, then began weaving my way towards the end of the road. Fire and rescue workers, mostly bears of some kind, were ripping away at the sizzling wreckage in a desperate attempt to uncover more survivors. I glanced guiltily at the mess I'd created, then forged ahead again, dodging through mountainous piles of rubbish and sliding under vehicles. Why had Nick sounded so urgent? I took a quick left turn at high speed, almost slipping on the icy cobblestones, and kept running, not knowing what to expect when I arrived.

I reached the next intersection along and skidded to a halt, peering apprehensively between the houses. The damage from the blast, while still noticeable, was nowhere near as bad here. A few smashed roof tiles and scorched chips of brick lay scattered around. This, combined with the thick smoky atmosphere, gave the place the distinct look of a war zone.

'WILDE! Where are you?' I called, trying not to panic.

'Over here!' came his muffled reply. It sounded as though he was somewhere off to the side of the street, about fifty metres away. Oh, no. Had he trapped himself? With that alarming thought, I set off at a dash, determined to make up the distance.

A sudden pain in my leg made me stumble, and I crashed hard onto the frigid ground, sliding painfully along the ice for one metre, two metres… I dug my claws in and managed to bring myself to a stop, swinging around with my legs splayed in front of me. Now, the damage was clear. I reached forward and shakily brushed the back of my paw against the reopened scar, wincing as pain shot up my leg. Red droplets spattered the snow. I sat up, then slowly pushed myself to my feet. I limped forward one step. Two. Three…

A dark, furry figure came hurtling out of the gloom and bowled me over, sending pain flaring back along my leg. I again found myself sliding, this time on my back. I stopped, heartbeat throbbing in my chest, and sat up, prepared to defend myself against the attacker.

'Stop! I'm armed… oh, it's you.' Nick peered down at me, looking upset and perturbed. His nose twitched.

'Sorry, Fluff… didn't mean to knock you over, I… I thought I smelled… blood.' He looked apologetically at my leg. 'You okay?'

'I've been better, bu- woah!' He put his paws underneath me and lifted me up swiftly.

'Sorry Carrots, no time to explain.' He set off at a heavy jog, soon panting with the effort of carrying me.

'Where are we going?' I asked cautiously, trying to hold my injured leg steady.

'Just over here… I found him, he recognised me and knew you'd be here too. Said he'd speak to you, just you… here we are.' Nick slowed down and turned into the small alley between a fast-food shop and a ramshackle wooden cottage. I peered down and gasped in shock.

A snow leopard lay, wheezing for breath, next to the splintered remains of the fence beside him.

'Oh….' I squeaked, realising why I'd been told not to bring paramedics. Every breath rattled the leopard in a series of spasms, and the fur around his muzzle was stained a deep red. I could smell burst gut tissue. He was clearly dying, too far gone for help.

His nose twitched, and he slowly twisted his neck to look at us. He opened his jaw, flashing several broken teeth. Were those from fights, or had shrapnel knocked them out?

'Please… come here' he whispered weakly, his Tundra accent afflicted by a sickening gurgling noise. I scurried closer and leaned down. The leopards hot, predatory musk, combined with the scent of blood, almost made me whimper. Long-buried instinct was telling me to run. I gulped and forced the panicked urge down, alarmed at how strong it was.

'You… you should not be here. You see… this is the same people as before, with the Night Howlers.' He rasped, trying to draw breath. I looked down, confused. How could it be Bellwether again? She and her crew of rams were, at the last check, safely in prison…

'No, not Bellwether.' The leopard seemed to have read my thoughts. 'She is only a part in this. There is a whole anti-predator movement! An organisation! They would never send their boss to… to risk being caught…' I felt as though a trickle of ice ran down my back. The leopard stopped talking again, this time screwing his eyes shut.

'So… Bellwether was a puppet?' I asked, hoping against hope that I was wrong. The leopard nodded.

'She had her own plans… but they used her to get into power, yes…' I felt like my head was spinning… all that effort to get Bellwether behind bars, and it had been a waste? There were more, more just as bad as her…

It was then I noticed the fresh blood leaking from behind the leopard.

'Nick!' I pointed urgently, but he'd already noticed, reaching back for his radio.

'It's too late.' The faint voice pierced the panic. The leopard reached behind his head, touching the base of his scalp. The paw, now trembling violently, came back, soaked with deep red.

'Oh, no. No, no, NO!' I shouted. 'RADIO THE MEDS!' Nick shook his head sadly. I watched uncomprehendingly as he lowered his muzzle, sniffing the wound. He winced, leaned back, and whispered something in the dying leopards ear. The ear twitched, then the leopard made a final, weak, gasp, rolling over into a ball. His mouth moved, and although no sound escaped his lips, the meaning was clear. _Run._

'RADIO! NOW! There's st-still time t- to…' I sobbed, breaking up my speech. I looked at the body and knew, deep down, that it was too late.

'Fluff…' Nick began urgently.

'They… they can revive him!' I was in denial, and I knew it. I closed my eyes, trying to block out the horrible image just beyond them…

'Carrots! We have to move!' He was speaking fast now. 'If I were these people, the ones who tried to get into power, who would I hate the most? Us! And they know we're here! That dispatch was on an open channel, anyone with a police scanner could have picked it up!' I realised what he was saying, and a feeling of dread crept over me, bathing my stomach in cut ice.

'We need to get out of here.' I said the words calmly, but inside a maelstrom of fear and hate was brewing. I remembered Bellwether's cruel laugh as she relished in my imminent death, and realised, of _course_ it couldn't be just her that hated predators…

'Here!' Nick lifted me up from the ground, putting his arm under my legs. I whimpered in the back of my throat as his rough fur scraped the wound, but didn't complain. He took off at a sprint, soon passing the end of the street. He skidded around the corner, barely slowing to adjust my weight, and ran on toward the car. Sleet tore through the air with even more gusto, stinging against my face and arms. It seemed almost malevolent, trying to push us back into danger.

'Almost… there…' Nick panted. I could feel his exhaustion taking hold. He slowed down, slipping back through the cordon and opening the driver's side door.

'Nick, you idiot, I can't drive!' I yelled.

'Oh! Right, then maybe you should-'

And that was when the second shockwave ripped through the air with a crack, and the sky burned a brilliant, pure orange…

* * *

The ringing in my sensitive ears was enough to cause a headache on its own. That, along with the iridescent blobs fading in and out of sight and the blow on the back of my skull, was making me feel mushy and nauseated. My mouth felt dry, as though I'd been breathing sawdust.

I turned my head painfully to the right, and found that I was on the ground. Strange… I didn't remember falling. A dark orange shape was hovering fuzzily over me, shifting with the light.

The blurry orange haze slowly resolved itself into a form I recognised…

'Judy! Come on, please wake up!' The familiar voice jarred me back to reality. Nick was almost sobbing with desperation, his voice cracked and fearful.

I opened my eyes wider and blinked them shut again, trying to remove the layer of dry grime that was blocking my vision.

'Dumb… fox' I choked, rolling my eyes. I shifted on the ground, but my legs felt like jelly. I blinked again and took in the situation instead. The air was even thicker than before, and several fires were now blazing, casting dashes of blinding white through the snow.

Nick whimpered with relief and tackled me in a hug, wrapping his forepaws around my back and lifting me upright. But I still felt cold on the inside… I'd been too late. Too late to save the poor leopard, too late to warn the rescue team… To think my day had started with stupid, selfish worries about being in a relationship with the adorable fox in front of me! I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed myself closer to him. Well, maybe not so stupid… One thing was certain. Life was too precious, too short, to waste.

I nuzzled closer to the soft fur around his ear.

The snow and fire intermingled, creating a beautiful, yet sad aura as the distant wail of sirens filtered through the air.

'I love you' I whispered, then closed my eyes and let the hot tears flow down my face.


	2. Chapter 2 - Nick

**A/N: Thanks to all the people who read the first chapter! Yep, it's been a while - I'm a fairly slow writer - but hopefully you find this chapter as good as, or better than, the one that came before it. It's been pretty obvious where this story was going as soon as I uploaded the cover art, but this is the chapter where the plot actually starts to happen. Enjoy!**

* * *

I stirred, my fur rustling against the warm couch.

'Nick, wake up. Your alarm went off! Something you wanted to watch on TV.' Judy's urgent whisper startled me awake. I groped blindly for the remote, my paw brushing past open papers on the coffee table.

Over the past few days, my apartment had been turned into an outpost of our office. Littered with old case files, newspaper clippings and photos, the place had become the centre of our efforts to trace the activities of the so-called _movement_ whose goal it was to re-segregate Zootopian society.

However, our research had hit, and continued to hit, dead end after infuriating dead end. The fur around my ears was permanently mussed up, a reminder of all the times I'd run my claws through it in frustration. Every day was worse than the one before. In the office or out, the constant tension was present, the fear of more attacks hanging over like a darkening thundercloud.

My roaming paw finally hitting the chunky plastic device, I snatched it off the table and pressed the 'unmute' button.

' _-and that's all for the weather. Back to the main newsroom for some upcoming events.'_ It was an elderly female armadillo speaking. I pulled out my phone and checked the time. 9:56PM. I sat fidgeting, not listening to the drivel of boring community-festival information, waiting for the report I knew was coming. The one that I'd been thinking about all day, wondering if things could possibly get _worse…_

'Hey, what's wrong? You look like you've been sentenced to death!' I flicked my ear at her and pulled my face into something resembling a grin.

'Ha ha, Carrots, I'm fine. I never did anything _that_ bad. After all, I… what was it? 'Never had the guts to be anything more than a popsicle hustler', didn't I? Anyway, you should probably get some sleep. Eighteen hours is a long time to go without it.' I stopped, cursing the nervous undertone my voice betrayed.

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously and came closer. 'Is there something you aren't telling me?' Her scrutinising gaze locked onto my paw, still clenching the remote. Realising it was trembling, I quickly shoved the device back on the table and laid the paw on my lap, trying to still it.

'Nooooo…' My voice petered out as I quailed under the look she was giving me. 'Yes,' I finally mumbled at my shirt, knowing that the over-enthusiastic bunny would find out anyway. I let out a shaky breath and patted the cushion beside me. She hopped over the back of the couch and landed with a soft _flump_ on the cushion, still looking curiously between me and the flatscreen on the wall.

'Something on the news?' she asked, looking carefully at me for a reaction.

I barked out a short laugh that sounded forced even to my own ears. 'Detective Hopps looks at the channel!'

Judy rolled her eyes. 'Well, it'd have to be something pretty recent, otherwise you could have just checked the ZNN app. But, you set your phone buzzer this morning. I saw you. So, whatever it was, it was planned, right? That narrows it down to someone you know being on, or some kind of meeting, or vote.' I grimaced involuntarily at the last item on the list. That was Judy, always the deductive thinker. She seemed to pick up on my reaction. Her left ear swivelled to face the TV.

' _And now, on to some breaking news. As we speak, the Zootopia City Councillors are taking a vote in the future direction of laws concerning the protection of relations between traditionally predator and prey species._ ' The leopard newsreader paused, looking quite as apprehensive as I felt. ' _The result will be announced later, along with the specifics of the policies voted on. As of the time we contacted the council, no response was given as to the possible outcomes of today,_ ' finished the second newsreader.

'What on Earth does that mean?' Judy nodded at the screen.

I shook my head. 'Nothing good. It seems even our elected officials are prejudiced.' I didn't know why I'd bothered keeping news of the vote from Judy. I mean, if she–if _we_ hadn't been so busy investigating the terror attack, she would have heard about it anyway. The only reason _I_ knew was through the agitation on the predator-focused news sites. Somehow, I found it doubtful Judy had ever visited Preddit.

We sat in silence, watching the rest of the news, my impatience growing more and more by the minute. I checked the clock on my phone. Had it really only been five minutes? Seven? Ten?

Finally, the voice of the newsreader broke through with new urgency. ' _Representatives of the Council have emerged from a briefing with the results of a game-changing vote. For those of you who just tuned in, earlier in the program an announcement was made confirming a vote taking place on updates to policy regarding the safety of predator-prey interactions. Here's a clip released by the city on the matter._ ' The view cut to a cheesy interview-style City ad of one of the councillors making a long, flowery statement on the uniqueness of Zootopian society. Nothing we hadn't heard before, thousands of times. This time, the sentence was punctuated with a sharp _but_.

'- _but_ we need to remember our _limits,_ and the values imparted by these limits. _We_ may have over-stretched ourselves up until now, resulting in tensions flaring. Sadly, our city has been witness to crimes that can only be described as tragic. Everyone, these crimes have stemmed from a mutual _misunderstanding_ between predator-' the greying impala made a sweeping gesture with both hooves, miming a separation, 'and prey. This misunderstanding is understood to stem from a _fear_ associated with lingering instincts from before the time of this wonderful city of ours. Instincts and fears, no doubt exacerbated by the deadly savage attacks of past months.' The impala hung his head, apparently in grieved silence, but I saw the glitter in his eye. He was _enjoying_ this. I growled, the rolling sound rumbling in the back of my throat. Said like a televangelist! 'Which is why we, the councillors of Zootopia City, will be voting on new safety measures to be put in place for species that were traditionally predatory. These policies, if voted in, are drawn up specifically to reduce public fear and include new laws for behaviour in communal spaces, on public transport, and mandatory collar laws.' My growl stopped dead, replaced by a choke of shock. _What?_ I looked at Judy, who was staring open-mouthed at the figure on the screen, the councillor now having let loose with a volley of 'let me be clear'-s and 'allow me to re-iterate'-s.

A pounding heat was rising in my chest. I barely noticed my splayed claws digging furrows in the couch fabric as my breathing became heavier. Each lungful of air rasped a dry passage down my throat as I fought to maintain my common sense, because I _knew_ that something like that would never pass. Ever. They could _not_ bring back the shock collars. No-one would _stand_ for that kind of… of blatant discrimination! And to bring it out under the guise of some kind of safety policy… that was nothing less than perverse. The heat subsided slowly. Surely, barely any councillors would be crazy enough to vote in that kind of discriminatory garbage.

The camera had reverted to showing a feed from the news desk. The leopard news anchor looked frankly disgusted, as though she regretted ever coming to work that day. She cleared her throat and looked down, slipping back into composure as her fellow newsreader began to speak.

' _The controversial policies came as both unprecedented, and unpleasant, as we have received numerous messages in the past few minutes on various platforms, calling for the resignation of Councillor Morris after the release of that video on the council's website.'_

 _'But now, we at the ZNN are the first to broadcast the official results, having received communication barely minutes ago. The raft of policies were voted on as a package, and-'_

The female leopard lost her concentration entirely, stuttering to an uncertain stop as shock and worry stole their way over her face. Oh no. No, no, no. My heart stopped cold. What had she seen on the teleprompter? Her co-presenter coughed briefly and picked up where she left off, speaking quickly and quietly as though he could lessen the impact of his words.

 _'-and it was passed, with thirteen yes's, ten no's, and one mammal abstained.'_

As he spoke, the view shifted to a small infographic depicting a red bar just dominating the right-hand side of the screen.

I sat shivering. The little red line seemed to taunt me, jeering at me from just out of reach.

The warmth drained out of the air, so suddenly I forgot to breathe. I half-rose out of my seat, then collapsed again, my breath coming in short gasps.

My vision blurred. Why was this happening? My world had just come together. Now it was being torn apart again!

The chill slowly spread down my spine and arms, freezing me in place with my muzzle hanging slack as I realised, once and for all, it wasn't just my world threatening to implode. It was the world of every predator, every fox, cheetah, otter… we were _all_ suffering now.

The collars had been an experiment of sorts, back sometime in Zootopia's history. Back then, the only way prey animals had felt safe was if all predators wore horrible chunky collars that would shock you if you got too worked up. But those had been abandoned _decades_ ago, at least. Before my lifetime, for sure. Until now, the only place they were mentioned were in history books, where they belonged.

I sniffled, the familiar weight of prejudice returning to my shoulders after only a few short months of release.

I felt a soft paw placed over my own, heard a worried voice speaking.

'Nick, you're going to be fine. It's going to be okay.'

I think she was trying to comfort me. The words didn't have meaning, but the tone in which they were spoken made me feel, not _better,_ but a bit safer. My thoughts calmed a little.

'Hopps…' I moistened my lips, trying to herd my thoughts into order. I took a deep, shaky breath, but found myself unable to talk. What was there to say? Did I even need to say anything? All I wanted was for time to rewind, for the horrible biases in the world to never have happened. I knew it was impossible. Even in my position, I had to know that the good in the world would never exist without the bad.

No. The only thing I could want was comfort, and Judy seemed to understand that. Wrapping her arms around me and pressing her head into my neck fur, she kept up the steady stream of encouraging words. Slowly, the roiling mass of emotions settled down inside me. I knew that nothing _needed_ to be said. Judy understood anyway. She understood _me_ , and that was enough.

It was then I noticed her doing something a little strange. Instead of staying still, she was slowly rubbing her chin on my neck and shoulder. It wasn't uncomfortable, but all the same, what was she doing?

'Um… Fluff,' I whispered hoarsely, 'my shirt isn't a brush, you know.'

'Huh?' She started backwards, looking like she'd just woken up from a trance. 'What's wrong? Apart from the… oh.' She suddenly looked away shiftily and hid her face behind an ear, clawing her fur agitatedly. The response was more than I was expecting from such an offhand comment, and peaked my interest. I wondered what had just happened.

'C'mon, Carrots. Now you're hiding something from me! Hardly seems fair, does it? I mean, I know all about being fair.' She smiled a little at that one.

'It's nothing, really.' Her words said one thing, her tone said something completely different.

'Juuuuudyyyy…' I tilted my head down to give her my best pleading eyes, and a familiar smell hit my nose strongly. I sniffed again, thinking maybe it was just built-up inside my nostrils, but no… the smell was coming from _me,_ from my shoulder _._ But that wasn't right, unless… _no way._ Is that what had…? The silence between us spiralled, both of us exchanging awkward glances.

'Carrots, did you scent-mark me?' I blurted, not being able to hold it in any longer. She looked away again, seemingly flustered at being caught out.

'I… don't know. Did I?' She leaned in to my shoulder hesitantly and sniffed, instantly grimacing in embarrassment. I smirked at the look on her face, which was getting funnier and funnier every second. 'I didn't even _know_ when I was doing it, though! What _did_ I do?' She whispered in distress.

'Hey, calm down, Carrots. It's just a scent-mark. All you did was… _accidentally_ rub your chin on… you know what, never mind.' This was getting a little awkward now. Scent-marking wasn't something that you'd just _do._ It was an old instinct, mostly unnecessary within the past hundred years or so. But it still marked the same sign: possession. I had to do something to change the topic quickly.

An idea came to mind–brilliant, but also risky. Ah, well.

'Y'know, Carrots, I don't really mind the whole scent thing.'

I tried to sound as casual as possible, but adrenaline was already racing through my veins at the thought of what I was about to do.

Judy turned to face me. 'Really?' She looked mortified. I took a deep breath.

'But next time,' I said, gently lifting her chin with one paw, 'I think I'll just settle for this.' I moved my head forward and quickly pressed my lips against hers.

Her eyes widened in shock, emphasising the deep violet of her irises, as all of my nerves stood on end. We were both motionless for a few moments. Then I felt a velvety paw on the side of my snout, pushing my muzzle down so we were still only a few centimetres apart. And for a brief, mesmerising moment, we stared into each other's eyes. I saw my own feelings reflected in hers: shock, wonder, and love.

I blinked, and the spell was broken. The pain, fear and anger, having barely been restrained, crashed back in on me as though the dam holding them back had crumbled. I slunk slowly back behind the outer wall, the façade, trying to cover up how much of mess I was inside, and looked away. _This is too much._

Judy wasn't fooled. 'Nick! Listen to me, okay? We _are_ going to get through this. We're going to sort this out.'

'Sort what out?' I asked wearily.

'All of it.' Judy promised. 'Everything, whatever it is _we_ have, this whole-,' she gesticulated wildly, '- _thing_ with the collars. Things will turn out.'

'What makes you think that?'

'We'll work through it. And we won't give up! All right?' She snuggled closer and pulled on her 'big pleading eyes' face. I sighed, knowing there was no way to let her down nicely.

'Well, doesn't look like we have much of a choice. Work's on tomorrow, and I'll bet the Chief wants to lecture us about the new laws. The report said they'd be in effect soon.'

'Save tomorrow for tomorrow, Nick.' Judy said, yawning and closing her eyes.

'Carrots? Are you staying over?' I asked, surprised. _This_ was certainly new.

'Yep. Only way I'll know you get to sleep.' I smiled. That was Judy, always caring about others. I felt grateful for the way she'd treated me with kindness and sensitivity, even though I'd become a roiling emotional wreck. In some ways she was still the naïve bunny from the Burrows, still learning about the way the world worked. But in many ways she was so much more. Her caring nature, her emotional intelligence… I could see that side of her too, now.

I looked down and found that Carrots was already asleep, her puffs of breath lightly tickling my neck fur. I could feel her heartbeat settling into a slower rhythm. On impulse, I reached out and stroked her ear, combing the fur lightly with the backs of my claws. She made a small unconscious mewl, and I snorted in amusement, keeping up the stroking as I drifted slowly into a disturbed sleep, eventually giving up all together and laying the side of my face on her downy head fur.

The morning arrived abruptly in the form of the cheerful phone alarm going off from the table. I jerked my head up, having, as I did so, the vague sense that something wasn't right. I reached out and tapped frantically until my claw hit the 'Dismiss' button. Pushing myself up, I realised that I wasn't, as I'd thought, in bed. Rather, I was still sitting on the dark green couch in my living room. The memories of yesterday came flooding back through my mind, the bad and the good, as I noticed the rabbit whose head I'd been using as a pillow.

 _Judy._

She was just waking up. Crap! I checked the time. Sure enough, my alarm had gone off leaving me just the right amount of time to get ready for work.

'Judy! Wake up quickly, you're gonna be late!' I exclaimed, leaping up and sprinting into my bedroom, shutting the door behind me.

I reached my closet and flung the door open with excessive force, bouncing it off the wall a little as I grabbed my police uniform off a hanger. I deftly unbuttoned my shirt and slipped it off, tossing it aside as I poked my arms through the sleeves of the crisp blue top and began re-buttoning it. I quickly moved on to the rest of my uniform, getting my tail through the back of my trousers and proceeding to the dark-blue tie, slipping the knot up to a little way beneath my shirt collar.

I almost ran straight back out the door, but hesitated when I saw the mirrored sunglasses on my bedside table. I shrugged and reached back to pick them up. No point facing a city of discrimination without at least looking cool enough to take it. _Never let 'em see that they get to you._ No matter what Carrots thought, that had to be the best strategy now, so I slipped the glasses on and hightailed it back to the living room.

'Carrots, we should probably get you…' I trailed off when I noticed I was speaking to an empty room. A note, hastily scrawled on a sheet of ZPD note paper, was resting on the coffee table.

I read it aloud. 'Gone to pick my stuff up. Stay strong! Judy.' I felt a flicker of affection for her at the optimistic tone she'd written the note in, closely followed by a wave of anxiety when I checked the time on my phone. What was she thinking? There was no _way_ she could get back to her place on time, less get from there to the ZPD offices, in _ten minutes._ I navigated to the voice call app and tapped on "Carrots", which I'd jokingly labelled with a picture of Judy when she fell asleep at her desk the day after the Gazelle concert.

'Pick up pick up pick up pick up…' I muttered, pacing around the room in agitation.

'Nick! What's up?' came Judy's voice from the tinny speaker, 'I thought you were getting ready?'

'I was. But I just thought, how on earth are you gonna be on time? You don't exactly live close.'

She sighed in impatience, and I could imagine her eyes rolling. 'Rabbits don't have a reputation for being fast for nothing. I'm at my place already.'

'Oh… okay, then'

'Hey, it's alright. Just don't underestimate my ability to do stuff at the last minute. See you soon!'

The call ended. I slipped my phone back in my pocket, grabbed my wallet and keys from the shelf beside the door and jogged out into the hallway, where I made a beeline for the elevator and pressed the summon button. As I waited for the doors to open, a familiar gloating voice drifted down the corridor.

'Seen the news, sweetie?' I turned to face my tormentor, already knowing I was in for it.

'I know you have, Gladys. All you do is watch TV with the volume up.' I retorted at the nosy middle-aged goat.

She huffed. 'Well, _Mister_ , I'm happy to hear your _kind_ is finally getting what they deserve!' And she slammed her door shut again, leaving me standing rather nonplussed. Why would Gladys pass up the opportunity to harass me more? She'd been my unwelcome neighbour for as long as I'd been in the building, and had always been willing to insult me as much as she dared. Normally it never bothered me, but in light of the new laws, she must feel so… so right. So _justified_ in her discrimination. And that knowledge alone really made my tail drag as I walked to the offices, lost in my own dark thoughts.

I had just reached the park across from the impressive building when I saw my second sign that today would not be good.

The carpark was filled with media vehicles from all sorts of different stations. From my vantage point I could see at least ten logos, representing every channel from the ZNN to the Nine network. Reporters were milling around, some being filmed, others chatting and casting dirty looks at their competitors. Mic booms bristled from the crowd like giant hairs, matched in height only by the few giraffes hanging around. I got a chill down my spine as I remembered the last time I'd seen this spectacle. I forged onwards, preparing myself for the scrum to close in by putting on my neutral face and walking at a pace that was almost a run.

Sure enough, as I closed the distance to the front doors, about half of the cameras noticed my presence and turned to face me as reporters closed ranks, trying to form a barrier in front of the doors. I marched forward, avoiding the gaze of as many media mammals as possible, and barged straight through the crowd.

Questions battered me from all sides, pelting me like bits of hail. As I moved further into the crowd, I emerged into what seemed to be the eye of the storm. The reporters here hadn't seen me coming, and instead had pointed their cameras through the glass door and windows in the vain hope of catching something interesting.

I quickly shoved my weight into the revolving door, pushing back several surprised camera-mammals. The foyer was utterly deserted. The rounded receptionist's desk in the centre, usually occupied by Clawhauser, was now empty. Something was _definitely_ going on. I cocked my head, hearing the raised voice of Chief Bogo. Dozens of other voices were also yelling in what sounded like a heated argument, issuing from one of the larger meeting rooms on the second floor.

I broke into a sprint, not wanting to miss whatever was being said, and leaped up the large staircase two oversized steps at a time. The voices got louder, and I strained to hear what they were saying.

'That's just unfair, you can't even–'

'–giving us _that_ timeframe? You've got to be–'

'–absolute pain in the–'

'That's rude! You can't say the word–'

I stepped through the door and the loud dissent quieted briefly, as the arguing children– sorry, _police professionals,_ I corrected myself _–_ turned to see who the newcomer was. Chief Bogo took the opportunity to assert his control over the crowd, slamming his hooves on the lectern. The babble quieted, and I could now see Carrots sitting at a front-row desk. How the heck did she get past the media so fast? I slinked up to the front and climbed onto the comically-oversized chair next to her.

'How did–' I began, but she interrupted with a hasty _sssh_ noise, pointing at Bogo, who had launched into speech.

'As you have all heard, or at least guessed,' he started, his deep voice permeating every corner of the room, 'the council has made the, well… unusual decision to implement what they call collar laws. In effect, these laws mean it is now mandatory for every member of every predatory species to wear what the City calls a "Tame Collar". This is _supposed_ to deliver a non-fatal electric shock to a mammal when they become aggressive. Which one of you can tell me why I'm not too happy about this?' He spoke the last sentence with a voice of forced calm, and there was a dangerous glint in his eyes.

Complete silence fell over the crowded room. Every eye seemed to find something interesting besides the chief to lock on to.

'Nobody? I'll tell you all why: it makes our job _that much harder._ The council has, in my opinion, made a big, _bleeding,_ mistake. I rather think they consider this as an anti-violence measure, but they should have consulted with _me_ before announcing this stuff. Because as far as I'm concerned, and I've had rather a lot of experience here, separating and discriminating against one group is just likely to cause more fighting. But…' he sighed and his shoulders slumped, 'we have to follow the law as much as enforce it. As cops, it's our job. And the first step here would be to set a good example, so… as much as I hate it… predators, come forward.'

I suddenly felt frozen to my chair. I knew this had to be coming, but it still felt very abrupt. I slowly lifted myself down to the ground. I was the first one to do so, but was closely followed by Wolford, Delgato, and a few of the smaller predators from the dispatch room.

'Now, there is _some_ good news here.' Bogo had resumed speaking. 'I was able to persuade the council that putting shock collars on active police officers was not the smartest idea. Because they work by measuring your heart rate, they'd probably zap you for doing your job well. Luckily for you, you'll be getting modified collars. That way, you aren't breaking the law, but you can still do your job unimpeded. The collars, like this one–' he reached down and grabbed something from a cardboard box to his right. Opening his fingers, he revealed a sleek metal device with rounded edges and a small green light in the centre. A thick black band was attached to one side, and the other was taken up by a heavy-duty locking mechanism. '–have three modes. This one is now in the green, meaning safe. The other two modes are Yellow and Red. In Yellow mode, a warning beep will sound. In Red mode, the collar will deliver a shock through the two pins on the back.' He flipped it around, showing the flexible metal contact rods poking from the plastic backplate. 'Your collars will still be locked on, and they'll still go from green to yellow. But these have been specially ordered from the supplier, so they won't turn red no matter how high your heart rate rises. I've just got them all in a box here, and they are labelled by species for a good fit. Yes, Clawhauser, yours is the hippo version. When I call out your name, collect your designated collar and unwrap it. Then the lock clips shut like so.' He demonstrated the simple clasp mechanism, which made an ominously permanent-sounding click. 'Make sure to get it comfortable, because these aren't coming off any time soon. Right… first lucky recipients?' Rummaging for a moment, he pulled out a handful of collars of varying sizes and rattled off the names stuck to the packaging. 'Wolfovitz, Fangmeyer, Wilde, Andersen!'

I felt myself moving towards Bogo, but it seemed more like a dream than reality. Everything moved in slow motion as I grabbed the plastic bag, felt it crinkle in my weak grasp as I moved back to my seat.

 _Toughen up. Keep going._

The voice came from inside my head, an instinct learned from years of doing just that. Toughening up. Sucking up. I couldn't change the situation, so the only thing left was to not let the situation change me. I let in a nervous breath, then grabbed the top of the bag and tore it off, dumping the collar on the desk in front of me. The rounded metal edges glinted harshly in the fluorescent lighting, revealing the letters embossed on the surface: 'TAME Incorpawrated'. The terrible naming pun didn't exactly make any of this easier. The collar was light in my paws, certainly more high-tech than the bulky models I'd seen in pictures. The neck strap was a perfect fit. I pulled it around so the pins sat on the left of my neck, then felt around for the clasp. I took another calming breath, then looked down and smiled reassuringly at Judy, who was looking at me anxiously.

'Can't do any harm, right?' I said, grasping both halves and sliding them together.

 _Click._ The lock shut, and the collar vibrated as it powered on.

I looked around, half expecting mammals staring at me. Instead, it seemed the rest of the predators were just as apprehensive as I'd been. All of the collars I could see had turned yellow and were beeping, but I couldn't hear any noise coming from mine.

'Hopps, is my collar working?' I asked curiously, thinking it might be broken.

'Looks like it. It's green, though. You're actually calm, aren't you?' As she said it, I realised she was right. I _was_ calm, now that I'd put the collar on. Maybe it was the years of being shunned, pushed around and called names just for being a fox, but this wasn't really anything new. The collar, a marker of my being different, wouldn't really change anything in my life. I let my paws drop to the table and watched as the rest of the predators from both the force and the office collected their collars, giving them the occasional encouraging smile.

'Right,' said Bogo once everyone was seated, 'I get the feeling we're going to be needed today more than usual. The rest of the predator population is receiving their collars at booths around the city this afternoon, so we'll have to start enforcing the laws tomorrow. I'll hand out an information package at the end of the day, so let me know if you're not going to be there. I want all teams patrolling the collar booths this afternoon in case things turn nasty. Until then you have time to finish off your assignments from yesterday. Dismissed! Oh, except for you two.' He gestured to Judy and I and led us through the moving crowd of large police mammals. We followed in silence as the Chief led us up the stairs to his office.

'So…' he growled, sitting down heavily in his chair, 'how close are you on this terrorist case?'

I looked nervously at Judy, and she nodded back. 'Well, Buffalo Bu– I mean, Chief, to tell ya the truth… there haven't exactly been many useful leads. Actually, there haven't been many of _any_ kind of lead. We're still hopeful we can catch out the mammals behind it,' I added, the implication hanging in the air: _but they haven't done anything else yet._

He grunted and closed his eyes for a few seconds, clearly thinking hard.

'I will give you… two more weeks. Then I'm shifting this to our cold-case analysts.'

Judy protested, 'But Chief I think–'

'No buts! I can't have you two on this case for too long, you'll be needed in the field soon enough. Is that clear?'

I looked at her warningly, but she got the message anyway, as she sounded more subdued.

'Yes, Chief.'

'Good. And you, Wilde… I'm not going to say it'll be all right, because it won't. What I will say– and this is strictly off the record– is that this might not last long. The council's decision to bring these laws into play is more unusual than you might think. They've actually overridden Mayor Pinkston's objections by using a clause in city policy that says they can do whatever's necessary _if_ they think public safety is at risk. Obviously, they've interpreted that in a fairly loose sense, but it _doesn't_ make sense. They know that there are going to be just as many mammals who think they've gone senile, as mammals who support them.' Bogo shook his head disgustedly. 'And I think they _have_ gone senile. You'll just have to work through it. Catching extremists who think that blowing mammals to bits is okay is much more important than complaining about unfair regulation. Do you understand?'

I nodded. The Chief always had a way of making everything seem sensible, even if it didn't help me ignore the itching sensation that had started under my collar's thick-corded band.

'And one more thing– your security detail has arrived.' I looked at Judy blankly. Security detail? Since when did we need a security detail?

'Chief? Is that really necessary?' Judy asked.

He let out a hearty laugh. 'Just kidding!' he replied, reaching under his desk. 'But this is what _did_ arrive for you. Knowing you two, I figure you'll be needing these at some point.' He placed two objects on the table and pushed them towards us. I stared down at the serious-looking weapon – a brand new police taser. The hard plastic body was grey, with a coloured ZPD insignia etched on the side. Each one had a small engraved plaque with a name on it. Grinning mischievously, I reached out and tried to pick up the one labelled 'Judy Hopps'. Before I could touch it, my paw was swatted out of the air by a light grey one, and the taser suddenly pointed at my face.

'Hey! It was an accident. Honest!' I said, smirking even more broadly at the look on Carrots's face.

'Ha, ha. I'm _sure_ it was.' She said, quickly clipping the taser to her belt. I was suddenly very aware of the Chief studying us with an expression of interest on his face. Oops. I quickly grabbed my taser off the desktop and clipped it to my belt.

'Alright. Dismissed!'

'Hey, Carrots,' I asked as we walked out the door, 'do you think the Chief knows about us?'

'About us how?'

'You know what I mean. About us being together?'

'Yeah.' She responded, walking while looking straight ahead. 'It's not that uncommon for police partners to have feelings for each other. Even different species, like us. Especially if they work together for a while. Again, like us.' I thought about that for a while. It did make sense, seeing as how often partners saved each other's necks from difficult situations.

'Carrots… d'ya ever think we might be going about this investigation the wrong way?' I asked, thinking carefully over what Bogo had said.

She looked at me curiously. 'Not really. Why?'

I looked down at the taser in my belt, and brushed my paw against it lightly. It was empowering, but also a little intimidating. Collars weren't the only thing that could deliver electric shocks now. 'I think the Chief was trying to give us a hint. Giving us these, giving us a deadline… I think he wants us to put a little more action in. Do a little detective work. It's better than sitting around all day, looking for clues that probably don't exist.'

'I don't know, Nick… that's not really how cases like this work. We need to gather intel, get some idea of what we're getting in to before we're in it. Besides, we don't have permission, and I really don't think that the Chief would appreciate us breaking more rules.'

'Well, consider this.' I rebutted, an idea fizzing to life in my head. 'We know what we're looking for. So, why don't we ask someone who'd know about that?'

Carrots started. 'Oh! You mean…?'

I grinned broadly. 'Who do we know, personally, that would know a thing or two about a crime syndicate? Who lives near to where the original crime occurred?' I couldn't believe neither of us had thought it through this way before.

'We would have to meet him totally by accident, of course.' Replied Judy, cottoning on to my idea.

'Oh, certainly. If we just _happened_ to be around near his complex… gathering evidence, of course…' I continued.

'And we just _happened_ to accidentally ask him about a crime gang… I suppose it's not such a bad idea. But do you really think he'll help us? We're both cops now, and this could look bad on our record if we get found out.'

'C'mon, Carrots. We need the info, he's got the info. This is really important, we could shut this organisation down. You and me, fighting for everyone again. Are you in?'

Judy closed her eyes and appeared to be battling with her better judgement. Finally, she sighed in resignation. 'I'm in.'


	3. Chapter 3 - Nick

**A/N: A slightly shorter chapter than usual I'm afraid. I've been a bit busy with schoolwork (*cough* looking at memes *cough*). Anyway... stuff happens in this chapter. NONE of that stuff is sex. LOL I'll probably lose subs for saying that but anyway, as usual... Enjoy!**

* * *

'Hello? Yes, this is Tundratown Limo Service. Do you require a booking?' The heavily-accented voice of Koslov crackled down the line.

'I'm calling on different business, I'm afraid. I'll need to arrange a time to speak to your boss.'

'I am the boss here. What can I do for you?' He sounded a little suspicious.

'Koslov, buddy, ya know me! I need to talk to Mr. Big. The sooner, the better.' The phone went silent for a solid ten seconds, and I started to wonder whether Koslov had hung up.

'He is available in a few hours. You will wait in the car park outside MamMall Centre. I will send a car. It will pick you up at exactly seven. Do not be late, and make sure you are not followed. Good day.' The line went dead, and I looked around me. It didn't look like anyone had overheard my conversation except Judy.

'How'd it go? What did he want?' she asked, gesturing toward the phone.

'He's sending a car around to pick us up. Looks like we're talking to the little Big in person. And-,' I added as an afterthought, 'it'd be a good idea to _not_ tell him I called him that.'

Carrots chuckled, a funny hiccupy sound typical for rabbits. 'Come on, Nick! Would I ever? He'd probably ice us both!' she exclaimed, punching me playfully.

'Keep it down!' I whispered, making a shushing gesture. I was very aware of the fact that our cubicle was pretty much in the open. Carrots looked guiltily over her shoulder, then twitched her ears to check if anyone was near. Evidently there wasn't, because she kept talking.

'I'm assuming this car isn't going to just pick us up from the ZPD. That'd look a bit, well, odd.'

'Nah.' I said, grinning at the thought of a jet black limo pulling up beside a couple of cop cars. 'But I hope you're ready for some shopping. Looks like we're headed to MamMall.'

A few hours of busywork later saw us almost ready to go, walking through the building toward the exit.

'Hey Nick, are you sure Mr. Big will appreciate us carrying these?' Asked Carrots, slipping her taser out of her belt and turning it over.

'It should be fine. If he wants us unarmed, we'll put them down and pick them up on the way out.' I replied. 'He may be a mafia crime lord, but he's not unreasonable.'

At that moment I was startled by a high-pitched squeal. 'Gah!' I exclaimed. It sounded like someone was in severe pain. Then the sound changed into a giggle, coming from the front desk.

'Clawhauser!' I barked in annoyance. Whatever he was obsessing over this time, it had almost caused me to run and hide. He signalled us to come over to his desk, still chuckling and smiling loonily.

'Alright, then…' I muttered, checking to make sure we had enough time. It was still at least half an hour until we had to be at the car park. I nodded at Carrots, and we walked over.

'Hey, Ben.' I said. 'What's with the banshee impression?'

He broke out into another burst of giggling, trying to cover his mouth with both paws. 'Ha!' he finally managed. 'I _always_ knew it! You two…' He turned his laptop around. On the screen was the Precinct One surveillance database, with one particular video paused and zoomed-in.

'Busted!' sang Clawhauser, cackling madly.

The video was from one of the security cams beside the exit driveway, and the picture it was frozen on showed…

Judy groaned. 'Clawhauser! That's kind of creepy.'

It was a perfectly clear image of Judy and I staring moonily into each other's eyes.

'Well,' I said dryly, 'now we know how you found out all the couples in the building.'

'Isn't it brilliant? But you and you are _sooooo_ cute together!' His voice reached a crescendo that would have made Gazelle jealous. 'I suspected there was _something_ going on for the longest time, but I didn't _know_ until now!'

'Yeah, buddy, about that…' I began, but Judy beat me to it.

'You won't tell anyone, will you? Please?' she asked.

'Hmm…' he didn't reply, instead giving us a cheeky expression and scratching under his collar.

'Please?' repeated Judy, while I gave Clawhauser my best cute-puppy look. He sighed.

'Oh-kay then. I don't see what the problem is, though.' I exchanged a look with Judy.

'Well…' I said, 'I guess mammals wouldn't really accept us being together. Us being, y'know… different species.' I knew that was the truth, at least with reference to some mammals. What I didn't say was that I didn't really care what anyone thought of me, as long as Judy wasn't dragged down by it. After all, I already received plenty of hate-mail for being in the police force. Plenty of mammals seemed to find a fox serving justice too ironic to bear.

'Oh, who could possibly judge you two? You're perfect for each other!'

'Yeah, Clawhauser, we gotta go now. See ya, buddy!' I said, noticing the time.

'Bye, then,' he replied, looking a little disappointed.

'Goodbye!' said Judy. We hurried to the door and, leading the way, I jogged through the foot-traffic. The route we were taking was more convoluted than usual, as we tried to avoid any place where we were usually seen.

Finally, and just on time, we sprinted out of a small ally into the back of the car park. It was obvious almost the instant we arrived which car had been sent for us: an expensive-looking black limo with chrome trim and tinted windows, idling while parked across three spaces. We looked around to make sure no-one was watching, then kept low and ran across the asphalt. The car was a large-mammal size and, like the rest of Mr. Big's personal fleet, had an illegally tinted windshield, which I decided to ignore. Obviously.

I reached up and grabbed the door handle, pulled it with all of my weight to make it swing, and stood back.

' _Hop_ in, Officer Fluff!' I said cheekily, offering her a paw-up. She rolled her eyes at me and leapt up to the seat, gently cuffing my head on the way past.

'Well, if you must.' I said, shrugging and clambering in after her. I reached out to close the door, but before I could, a massive white paw slammed it shut. I started around. Big's polar bear goon, Kevin, looked back at me through narrowed eyes. I gulped. What if I was wrong? Had Mr. Big changed his mind, decided we couldn't be trusted? Kevin's collar was a lazy green.

The limousine pulled away smoothly. Kevin grunted and held out his paw, gesturing for our weapons. Did the guy ever speak? I unclipped the taser and passed it over, ruing it already. Bogo was right — we probably would need them sometime. We just had to hope that time wouldn't be soon.

We drove on for some time before I realised Judy was shivering, and not just from cold. She was looking back and forth between me and Kevin, who was sitting opposite us, with a kind of wide-eyed nervousness. I reached across and grasped her hand, hoping to comfort her. I knew she wasn't as familiar with Mr. Big and his dealings as I was, and I hoped she didn't say anything too aggressive this time. Maybe then we wouldn't have to worry so much. I looked down and gave her a small smile, and she gave one in return. We'd be all right.

The rest of the drive passed in relative silence, the only noise the low purr of the engine. I couldn't see much outside the window, but it looked like we were starting to pass into some of the shady areas of Tundratown. The buildings got smaller and smaller and less modern until we finally arrived outside Mr. Big's complex. The stone-and-wood cladded building stood out so much from the dilapidated houses around it that it looked more like a dark castle. The car pulled up outside the house and Kevin opened the door, ushering us out into the snow.

We walked up the pathway, Kevin following slowly behind us. When we got to the door he reached up and opened it, revealing the high-ceilinged entrance passage, which was lit by a large glass chandelier. I knew the way to the study, and pretty much every other part of the house, from my past friendship with the Big family, but I let Kevin guide us anyway. I thought about the incident that had led to me being kicked out of his mafia, marvelling at how much I'd changed. I'd never sell him a skunk-butt rug now, and I kind of wondered why I did then. With the benefit of hindsight, it seemed a bit pointless, really.

We waited patiently outside Big's office door. It sounded like he was in discussion with someone. I heard a glass being set down, and Mr. Big chuckled a little. At least, whatever it was, it was going well.

'Thank you, you have helped me greatly. You may now leave' Footsteps approached the other side of the door and it opened.

Carrots looked in half-surprise, half-contempt at the mammal who stepped out.

'Duke Wesselton?' she asked.

'WEASELTON!' he yelled. 'Ha! What're ya doin' here, Flops? Wanna get iced?'

'What are you doing, dumping bootleg DVDs?' she retorted, grabbing my hand and marching me through the door. Mr. Big was seated, as usual, in his ornate mini-chair. Koslov was silently standing guard behind the desk. Kevin shut the door behind us, cutting off Weaselton's snarky reply.

'Nicky! Judy!' he exclaimed warmly, extending his ring finger. I leaned forward and carefully kissed his ring. Judy hesitated for a moment, then did the same.

'Mr. Big, it is an honour to see you again.' I said.

'Nicky, it is good to see you again. Have you come back to join the family?' he asked expectantly.

'Um… no. Sorry, sir, but I simply can't do that. Not now I'm in the force.'

'Hm. A pity. The missed opportunities… you would be very useful, Nicky. I would reward you greatly,' he replied hopefully.

'Never mind that,' Judy cut in. 'What were you doing with that idiot weasel?'

'Stop talking, please can you just stop talking,' I hissed through my teeth.

'He contacted me. Had some information I was wanting. Never mind him. There was something you wanted to discuss?'

'Yes, there is, sir,' I said quickly, casting a warning look at Carrots, who looked like she wanted to interrupt again. 'We came here to ask if you know anything about another criminal organisation.'

'I have knowledge of many. What do they do?'

'All we know is that they're anti-predator terrorists. You remember the explosion? That was probably them. We talked to an injured leopard when we got there, and afterwards found out he'd been the target.'

'Yes, I remember the explosion. It disrupted my supply lines, injured one of my scouts. Can I speak to this leopard?'

'He died on the scene, sir.'

'Hm. You don't have very much to go on. Even as police officers, you still come to me for help…' He chuckled. 'I don't know much for certain, but I can tell you where I suspect would be a good lead.'

'Go on.' I said, slipping a notepad from my pocket. This could be interesting. No matter what he claimed, Mr. Big only dealt in useful information.

'There is a warehouse rental area north of here. My sources tell me there are rumours of activity around them.'

'What kind of activity?' I asked, writing briefly.

'No-one knows! It's all in the dead of night, all covert. There's security around it, and trucks come in and out. But no markings! You're looking for strange activity in the area? That's the place to go.'

I nodded thoughtfully. It made sense to check Tundratown warehouses. The owners of such places were notorious for their lack of interest in what the clients used them for.

'Thank you, sir. We'll check up on that,' I said. 'Can you give an address for the place?' He beckoned Koslov, who nodded, grabbed my pen and paper and wrote something down. He passed it back to me, now with an address scrawled in large, loopy text that took up half the page. Carrots stood up on tiptoe and pulled the corner down to look at it, reading it aloud.

'Number Eleven, Markus Street.'

Mr. Big nodded his head. 'It is part of the industrial area. I'm curious what is happening there myself. It is a big place for just a few mammals, if that's what this group is.'

'Thanks. We'll leave you now, sir.' I said gratefully. This was the first lead we'd had in what felt like months.

'Yeah, thanks,' Judy added.

'You may go. Make sure they get to their apartments safely,' said Mr. Big, pointing at Kevin, who grunted. 'And be sure to give them their weapons back. I trust them.'

The drive home lasted at least three-quarters of an hour, and it was well past nine by the time we'd got to Carrots's apartment.

'Call me in the morning, all right?' she asked, patting my paw. I rolled my eyes and gave her a half-lidded look.

'Worried this will all be a dream?' I asked in return, grinning at her.

'Hah, as if! I have the evidence to prove it's not.' She pulled out a small notebook and waved it teasingly at me. I quickly patted my pockets. _What?!_ Carrots laughed at the surprised look on my face, slipping it back into her pocket.

I chuckled and kissed her on the forehead. 'Sly, sly bunny,' I said, covertly transferring the notebook back to _my_ pocket. Two could play at that game.

'Goodnight!' she said.

'Night, Fluff.' She opened the door and stepped out into the night. Her building was in one of the many narrow backstreets that ran like a maze in the shadow of the gleaming skyscrapers. The peeling sign read 'Grand Pangolin Arms.' The place was much older than my apartment, and looked a lot smaller from the outside. Judy had described it to me once, and I knew it was just as small on the inside, with her apartment consisting of exactly one derelict room… At this thought my brain stuck. Hold on. Why hadn't I thought of this before?! Why was she living in a teensy tenement, while I was relatively living it up in a modern apartment? Crazy idea, but crazy seemed almost like my life theme at the moment…

I pushed the door back before it could swing shut. 'Carrots! Wait a bit.' She turned back around, looking mildly curious at my sudden call.

'Yes?' asked.

'D'you wanna just head on to my place?'

She tilted her head, then shrugged. 'Sure, why not? Hang on, I'll get some stuff.' She ran in to the building, coming out a few minutes later with a small bag. She hopped back to the car and jumped in, closing the door behind her. We sped off further into the centre of the downtown district, Kevin giving me a stupid smirk. It didn't take long to get from Judy's place to mine by car, as they were both in the same district. We pulled up by the kerb and jumped out, the door slamming behind us. We walked to the front doors, which I opened with a tap of my card, and continued in silence up to my floor. We got to my door, and I opened that too, leading the way in and turning the light on. Now came the crazy.

'Carrots, I've been thinking… do you want to move in with me?' I asked, keeping my voice carefully neutral as I watched her face. She looked taken aback at the suggestion, and a little embarrassed. 'Because, you know, my place is a bit bigger than yours… I don't have another bedroom, but I guess I could always sleep on the couch, and…' I stopped, seeing that she was starting to laugh at me. My ears drooped as I realised that I'd made an almost complete fool of myself, just asking her to move in with me like that…

'Sorry,' I mumbled, suddenly embarrassed with myself.

'What?' She stopped laughing.

'You probably don't want to, I was just being impulsive. Anyway, do you want to, I don't know…' I cast my gaze around the room, my eyes settling on the ZBox, 'play some… uh—'

Judy saved me from having to think of a game we hadn't yet completed by interrupting me, 'Nick, I do want to move in with you.'

My stuttering subsided. 'Really?' I asked, not altogether certain she was being serious.

'Of course I do!' She reached out and squeezed my paw. 'Annoying as you are, why would I want to live in the Stinking Pangolin Arms when I could live with you?' Relief flooded my body when I realised she meant what she said. Carrots and I were _actually_ going to live together!

'And Nick,' she continued, 'it's very sweet of you to offer me your bed, but, er… don't worry about having to sleep on the couch. I'm not that shy.' She sounded a little awkward, and scuffed her paws on the carpet.

I put my paws around her back and hugged her. 'Thanks, Carrots,' I mumbled into her head fur.

'Hah! I wonder how Dharma's going to take it.' I tilted my head, unsure who Judy was referring to. 'My landlady,' she clarified, sensing my confusion.

'Oh,' I laughed, 'probably not that well, then.'

'Yep, she'll probably charge me like a wounded bull for leaving so abruptly.'

'Oh, come on, Fluff. It can't be as bad as you've _herd_ it— ouch!' She punched me on the arm.

'Oh, stop it. Anyway,' she asked, 'can I go use your shower?'

'Sure, go ahead,' I said, and she picked up her bag and hopped to the bathroom.

Wow, what a change this would be! This was the first time I'd lived with someone else, apart from my mother. My mouth twitched, but I didn't bother trying to hide the joyful grin, because all I could think of was just how very pissed off Gladys would be.

The shower started up, and the softly-pattering white noise made me realise just how tired I was. I checked the clock, almost expecting it to be midnight, and was greeted with a surprise. Tired at only nine-forty? Well, I guess I _had_ woken up early this morning. My days hustling with Finnick had been unrestrained by schedule, and seemed much more free in comparison.

I yawned and, realising my staying awake was a lost cause, shuffled over to my bedroom.

'G'night, Fluff,' I called sleepily, opening my door. I looked around at my room, taking in the dirty boxer shorts, socks and shirts scattered across the floor, and groaned in annoyance. I bent down and started collecting clothes, chucking them into a corner. At least now the floor would be visible. Reasonably satisfied with the job I'd done, I flopped fully clothed onto my bed, leaving one side free for Carrots, and curled up under the warmth of my blanket. I itched irritably at the matted fur under my collar, trying to put it in some kind of order, then finally started relaxing into sleepy unconsiousness.

A small rustling noise disturbed my half-sleep, and I felt the blanket pull back a little as a warm figure pressed in beside me.

'Tired, dumb fox,' an amused voice whispered close to my ear. It paused, then spoke again with a kind of quiet wonder, ' _My_ dumb fox.'

I sank further into sleep, feeling very content.

* * *

'Yes, but that's what I don't understand! What's it for? What's the reason?' I shifted uncomfortably, stretched and rolled over. I'd had a good dream… I couldn't remember exactly what, but it had made me feel very rested and happy. Judy's voice filtered around my almost-closed door. She sounded anxious, and I could hear Chief Bogo's voice indistinctly rumbling from her phone.

'Yes, sir. Understood.' She paused, and he briefly spoke back. 'Will do, Chief. Thanks for letting me know.' I heard her claw tap the screen as she hung up. Whatever this was, it didn't sound good. Carrots was normally an enthusiastic conversationalist, even to Chief Monotone, but now she seemed very… subdued.

I quietly flipped my bedsheets off and tiptoed to the door, peering around to find Judy sitting on the couch with her head in her paws. She looked exhausted, and was still holding her phone in one paw, pressing it glumly against her cheek.

'Morning, Carrots,' I said cautiously. She started, dropping her phone as she looked at me with slightly red eyes.

'Oh! Hi, Nick… what's up?' she asked, blinking furiously. I decided not to comment, thinking maybe she'd tell me what was wrong on her own. Assuming it was safe, I sat down carefully next to her, still looking at her concernedly. She fidgeted a bit, several times unlocking and re-locking her phone as though she wasn't sure what she was doing with it. This went on for a few minutes, until finally my curiosity got the better of me.

'Alright, I'll bite… um, metaphorically.' I reached out and gently lifted her chin with my paw, looking directly into her eyes. 'What's wrong?' I asked. She pushed my paw and gave a dry laugh.

'I guess I can't lie to that face. You know how we aren't allowed to _consort_ with major criminals?'

'Yes…' I nodded, already not liking where this was going.

'And you know how much being a police officer means to me, right? How I never imagined I would break the law at all?'

'How much it means to both of us!' I replied. 'I would _never_ break the law!'

'And,' she continued unsmiling, 'you know why we prepared so well yesterday? Why we never told anyone what we were up to?'

'Yep. So no-one would know that what we were doing was illegal, right? Oh…' A terrible possibility dawned on me.

'They know where we were,' she said, still sounding astonished and upset. 'They know who we talked to. They _know_ he's a mafia boss.'

A sense of foreboding had begun to seep through my body, and soon I was on the verge of shaking with the fear. 'Who?' I whispered. 'Who is _they?_ '

And Judy's reply completely justified my terror. 'The Council. They rang Bogo. Bogo rang me. We're both… "suspended pending investigation".'

I was shocked beyond words. Shocked beyond thought, really, knowing with an awful certainty one thing. I looked into Judy's eyes, which had started swimming with tears of anger, and the solidly inescapable truth sat like a rock in my mind: I'd come up with the plan. I'd been the one ignorant enough to think no-one would notice us, the one _arrogant_ enough to think we could get away with it. This was _my_ fault. _I_ had done this to Judy.

I'd done this to both of us.

And it _hurt._


	4. Chapter 4 - Judy

**A/N: Sorry for the week's delay. Here's my excuse:**

 **Procrastinating writing fanfic by learning some principles of quantum physics - decently good idea.**

 **Procrastinating writing an overdue oral presentation by writing fanfic instead - _bad idea._**

 **Telling my parents I'm writing fanfic - _TERRIBLE IDEA GOSH DAMMIT WHY DID I DO THIS_**

Nick's eyes were wide. He looked as shocked as if I'd punched him on the muzzle, and was totally silent. Lost in thought. I just felt so _stupid_ , like some kid who'd done something just because they'd been told not to and been caught. Likewise, I had an almost insurmountable urge to complain, to say _it's not fair!_ or any one of a number of petty insults aimed at the council, at Bogo, at myself…

Nick slowly and deliberately looked me in the eye. 'Judy, I'm really sorry that I got you into this mess. I didn't think that I'd put a black mark on your career, or anything. Actually, I didn't _think,_ so…' I put a paw on his muzzle to stop him.

Nick, apologising? But…

'It wasn't your fault, Nick. You don't have to say sorry for something you didn't do.'

He looked at me with a pained expression. 'But Carrots, I came up with the idea in the first place!'

I sighed in frustration. 'Your idea was the best way. I agreed to it too.'

'I thought of it first. This is on me.'

'Nick! You didn't know things would turn out like this, and neither did I for that matter. You might as well blame me for getting you into the force, or… I dunno, your mother for giving birth to you. It doesn't add up!' He looked like he wanted to argue. 'I'll cut you a deal,' I said, shushing him again. 'You can take…' I pretended to think for a moment, 'sixty percent of the blame. Does that sound fair?'

He gave me a long look, and I started to think he might not lighten up.

Finally, he groaned, 'Ninety.'

I allowed myself a small smile. 'Seventy.'

'Deal. Not that it changes the mess we're in.'

'That's true enough,' I conceded. This time we really had stuffed up. Chief Bogo had been equal parts annoyed and nonplussed as he'd told me the council almost never intervened, especially without rock solid evidence.

Nick seemed to be thinking along the same lines as me. 'Did Bogo say how they knew?' he asked, sounding as though he only vaguely cared.

I thought back over my conversation with Bogo. 'Nope,' I sighed.

That, I decided, was the most confusing part. Bogo had explained he'd received a phone call from a representative, who had insisted we be suspended and investigated for misconduct. But where _was_ the evidence? How could they have known, sans being informed by Mr. Big? Our phones were encrypted, we didn't take anything else electronic, and no-one could have known who we visited outside the Bigs. Weaselton had been sworn to silence, so it wasn't him… was it?

'Nick, you don't think anyone else could have known where we went, could they? I mean, you didn't tell anyone, right?' My voice came out almost sounding like I was asking a question rather than making a statement, and I felt a little guilty for not fully trusting him.

He gave me a sideways look. 'No, Officer Fluff. Big's big on big security,' he muttered gloomily. I scolded myself. It was obvious Nick still blamed himself, and making him feel suspect wasn't going to help that.

I reached up and hugged him, pressing myself close to him. Trying to comfort him without words. I knew that if I said anything, the stubborn fox would find a way to rebut. He would find that one more way to blame himself, and I would have made it that much worse. It was endearing, but also annoying. It was so _him._ And to me, at least, that was the most important thing.

He hugged me in return, burying his head into my shoulder, and I got the feeling he was reassuring himself just as much as I was. The fox was almost shaking. I guess he felt I wasn't someone he had to put on a brave face for anymore. We were both in this together now.

And I had a really, _really_ bad idea.

Unfortunately, it was also a really good one. Well, in a sense.

'Nick,' I said quietly, almost hoping he wouldn't hear me, 'no-one's working on the terrorist case.'

He shifted back and looked down at me in surprise. 'Carrots, if you're thinking what I _know_ you're thinking, then this really is a Dumb Bunny moment.'

'But Nick, what if they get away? What if this was all for nothing?'

'Then I'd be happy to leave it to the case analysts,' he stated despondently.

I scrambled to think up another line of argument. I wasn't sure why I didn't just stop there. I knew this was possibly the worst idea I'd ever had, even counting speeding up towards an oncoming freight train, but it felt _important,_ somehow.

'If we let the case analysts get their paws on this, they wouldn't have our intel.' Nick looked at me blankly. 'I mean, the intel we got from Mr. Big. Giving it to them would mean telling them where we got it, and you know they can't trust criminal sources. It's too large a risk.'

He looked a little miffed. 'Criminal sources, like me? So, just for the sake of the argument, let's say I do join you in this _hare-_ brained scheme…'

I wondered for a second about the weird emphasis in his sentence before I realised he was making a pun. I grinned reluctantly and punched him in the arm. 'Nick, I'm a rabbit as you very well know!' I complained, secretly glad that he was at least making jokes again.

'Well, just say I did. How much of the blame would you take when it goes wrong?' My ears drooped.

'Um… All of it?' I asked, looking away sheepishly.

'What if I don't let you? I'll be going, whether you like it or not.' A cheeky grin had lit up his face.

I was happy and confused at the same time. 'You will? But a minute ago you said—'

'Fluff, I know it's a bad move to continue with the case even if we're suspended. But it's the _right_ move. If there's one thing I've learned from you…' he shrugged, '…it's to be able to tell the difference.'

The modesty in his voice absolutely floored me.

I grabbed his paw and, not knowing what to say, settled for touching my nose on his. 'Thank you,' I whispered.

Nick, on the other paw, knew exactly what to say.

'Breakfast?' he offered jokingly. I shut him up by giving him a swift kiss.

'Sure. What's on the menu?' I asked, laughing at his wide-eyed, vacant expression. I'd never get used to this, and it pretty much looked like he wouldn't either.

'Uh, more kisses?' he asked, blinking.

I laughed. 'How about some cereal? I can't even _remember_ the last time I ate.' My stomach growled its agreement.

Nick walked into the kitchen and opened a few cupboards.

'No cereal,' he called. 'You okay with porridge?'

'Sure,' I called back. 'Also, do you have any carrots?'

'Really? No, just blueberries.'

'They're just as good.'

He rattled around the kitchen for a few minutes, busying himself with the microwave, and I picked up my phone. The maps app would come in handy here. I clicked on it and tapped in the address given by Mr. Big. The app loaded for a few seconds, before a 3D view of a gigantic rusting warehouse filled the screen alongside directions to it from Nick's apartment.

Nick wandered over. 'So that's it, is it? Looks like an aircraft hangar,' he commented. He was right. The warehouse was taller than the ones on either side, and had massive full-height hangar doors. The arched roof was crumbling with rust, and in some places had fallen in to reveal the steel support beams. I swiped to change the view, and saw that the side of the building had a set of smaller garage-size doors locking off an access drive. The small doors looked new in the image, and so did the access road, which was freshly paved. The rest of the building was solid walls with no visible exits.

'Well, it sure is a fortress. No personnel doors,' I said, looking at the screen to make sure.

'Yeah, I didn't think about that. If we're scouting out the place, how d'ya reckon we're getting in? Short of BASE jumping, I mean.'

'I don't think we'll have to resort to that. I have a better idea.'

'Go on.'

I looked more closely at the side access drive, which was surrounded by dense hedges. 'I think we can sneak some photos of the inside when the trucks come. Mr. Big said they made regular deliveries.'

'What? They'll see us easily!'

'Not if we wait in the bushes. They wouldn't be able to see us then.'

The microwave interrupted with a series of beeps. Nick got up again, and I went back to looking over the images. This was going to be a very tricky operation. Despite my confidence in front of Nick, I knew this was extremely risky, especially since we still didn't really know what we were facing. A full-on terrorist group? A bunch of crazies? Some kind of well-armed prey-run street gang? And then there was the possibility of being tracked. What if we were found out, and got in even more trouble? We'd have to be even _more_ cautious this time, but if that failed… I didn't even want to think about the consequences. I voiced my concern as soon as Nick returned with two steaming bowls.

'Are you sure you want to do this?' I asked him warily. 'I mean, we still haven't figured out how we got caught last time.'

'Wow, you really don't want me to come along, do you?' he laughed, picking up his spoon. The porridge did smell inviting, but I ignored it for the moment.

'You're really sure you don't know how we were tracked?' I persisted.

He paused with his spoon hovering halfway between bowl and mouth, apparently thinking seriously this time. 'Well…' he said slowly, then shook his head dismissively. 'Nah, not possible.'

'What?' I asked, almost desperate at the thought of new information.

'No, never mind. I didn't think it through. So when do we leave?' he asked, starting on his breakfast with an enthusiastic expression. I snorted with laughter.

'Wha'th thfunny?' Nick asked through a giant mouthful.

Swallowing the urge to laugh even harder, I replied, 'When you look like that, that hyped face you've got, I can't tell if you're excited for catching bad guys or just for eating!' I cracked up again, Nick looking confused.

He swallowed. 'Why's that so funny, though?'

I chuckled. 'I'm not sure. We're both total idiots, you know?'

Nick put down his bowl, looking even more confused if that were possible. 'Not following you, Fluff.'

'If we survive this and take down the mammals that blew up half a street… I might just tell my parents I'm dating a fox,' I said, laughing at my lack of logic. 'Why should I be more scared of them than of… homicidal, predator-hating crazies? Well, my parents kinda don't like predators, and my dad's a bit crazy, but neither of them are homicidal…'

Nick looked mildly amused. 'I don't know about both of us being idiots… one of us, for sure.' He said jokingly. 'What's made you think about that, anyway?' he asked.

'Well, I don't know…' I paused to think. 'Everything just feels really trivial compared to what we're doing now. Once this is over… I don't know what to think, I feel like I just won't be… _afraid_ to do anything anymore.'

Nick nodded. 'I think I know what you mean. Except maybe telling your parents, if they're really that bad.'

'I didn't tell you about the fox taser, did I?'

'They sell tasers for zapping foxes?'

I nodded. 'It's a rabbit thing, there are heaps of Fox Away products sold in Bunnyburrow markets. Anyway, my dad tried to convince me to bring an arsenal of that kind of thing to Zootopia. That's where I got the repellent, by the way.' I could still remember my dad's enthused expression as he demonstrated the contents of the 'care package', and wondered whether he'd calmed down some since befriending Gideon.

'So he still has the fox taser?' Nick asked, a look of mixed concern and fear spreading across his muzzle.

'Yep, and something that looked like a fox airhorn. But don't worry, I'll introduce you to them over the phone.'

He seemed to relax a little. 'That's good. Wouldn't want to face up to an angry buck wielding a taser and an ear-destroyer. Anyway, you've pulled me off track. When should we leave?'

'As soon as I've finished this, if you want.' I picked up my bowl and started popping blueberries into my mouth. 'We'll have to do some proper scouting.'

'So,' Nick spoke in a fake dramatic voice, 'There's only one question remaining. Bus or cab?'

'Cab,' I answered instantly, having already thought it through. 'It'll be more private, I don't want to risk us being caught again. I mean, we can't rule out that someone saw us last time.'

Nick nodded thoughtfully. 'How about we order a Zuber? I don't feel up to paying the usual ridiculous fare.'

I snorted derisively. 'Says the fox with a million and a half in dirty money.'

He put his paw on his chest and made a face of shock. 'You wound me, Fluff! I spent most of that on this place. Besides, Pawpsicles, were a legitimate business venture!' he said, voice full of sarcastic hurt. Something in the way he paused during his sentence made me feel a little suspicious. I stopped eating for a second.

'Yeah, maybe you could convince me of that if you had some _real_ permits,' I said, wondering whether my ruse would work. I wasn't disappointed.

'Carrots, that paperwork is clean as a whistle. No nefarious dealings attached, I swear. Look,' he said, pulling the laminated sheet from his pocket, 'since you're the expert, and we both passed the forged documents unit…' I snatched the sheet and, giving it a quick once-over, scrunched it up in my paw and chucked it into the bin.

'Hey!' he exclaimed, looking genuinely surprised. 'What was that for?'

My ears jumped up. 'Nicholas Wilde, there will be _no more hustling_ from you!' I said forcefully, pointing at him with an angry claw. 'Why was that even in your pocket?' He shifted guiltily.

'I was just… saving it for Finnick, if he ever wanted it,' he mumbled, flicking his tail agitatedly against the couch. ' _I_ wasn't doing anything with it.'

I raised my eyebrows. 'You'd _better_ not have,' I said pointedly. 'And just because Finnick is our friend, doesn't mean he's above the law.'

'Didn't stop us going to Big when we needed to,' he muttered, then clapped a paw over his muzzle, looking instantly contrite.

I raised an eyebrow. 'That was a totally different situation. We needed _information_ from Big. He felt like he owed us, he gave us info. We're not… _friends_ with him.' But I couldn't help feeling that Nick was right. Just because Mr. Big and his syndicate had been useful, did that really give them any kind of protection? For all I knew, they could be just as bad as the group we were chasing. Just how many mammals had he ordered dead? I couldn't kid myself into thinking it was none. Having a dedicated ice hole was too big of a giveaway. And besides, Big had a lot of notoriety, with his huge network of almost every kind of criminal mammal. He was like the spider at the centre of a web, tugging on a strand whenever he needed.

I shivered at the turn my imagination had taken, and resolved to make Big my priority after this case. If there _was_ an after this case. Could Nick and I ever dig ourselves out of the legal hole we were in?

Shaking my head in an attempt to clear it, I put down my now empty bowl and loaded up the Zuber app. I scrolled around the map and dropped the pin just outside Nick's apartment block on Cypress Grove Lane.

'Right,' I announced, 'creepy warehouse, here we come!' I pressed the summon button, and a small box popped up to announce our ride would be here in less than ten minutes.

'Hey, whoa there Carrots!' Nick exclaimed frantically. 'I'm not even ready! I need to get my civvies on!'

'Better hurry up, then,' I said, teasingly waving the phone at him. He cast an appraising eye at me.

'You,' he said, finally jumping to his feet, 'are a crazy bunny.'

I gave him a toothy grin. ' _I'm_ the crazy bunny to your sly fox. Would you love me any other way?'

He flashed his teeth at me. 'No, no I wouldn't.'

I picked up our bowls and headed to the sink, thoroughly rinsing them before placing them in the dishwasher. I hopped over to the bathroom to clean my teeth, but decided I probably needed a shower too. I wriggled out of the light pyjamas I'd been wearing. I unzipped my bag and laid out a fresh pair of clothes and towel, then stepped into the slightly oversized shower and twisted the knob. The water ran cold for only a few seconds, then warmed considerably, taking me by surprise. High-cost apartments came with high-quality showers, I supposed. I quickly ran my fur brush up and down my body a few times, trying to remove built-up fluff and dust from Nick's bed. If anyone really needed to learn how to keep houses tidy like a rabbit, it was Nick, I thought.

I turned the tap off, and watched the small puddle of water as it swirled down the drain. I towelled off the droplets of water stuck to my fur, then quickly blasted myself with hot air from Nick's fur drier to remove the more persistent dampness. I turned the noisy machine off, then pulled on my fresh shirt and jeans and was out within a few minutes.

'Wow, Carrots. _That_ was fast.' Nick strolled out of his bedroom wearing a hooded jacket and tracksuit pants.

'When you've lived with as many siblings as me, you learn to shower quickly,' I said. 'Also, that really wasn't what I thought of when you said civvies.'

He looked down at his clothes, then back at me with confusion. 'What's wrong with them?' he asked.

I rolled my eyes. 'What's _wrong_ with them is that they are almost as sloppy as your garish leaf-print shirts.'

Nick made a siren noise. 'Woo-woo-wooo! Pull over now! It's the fashion police!'

I couldn't help but chuckle at his antics. 'Well, keep it on then. It might even drive away criminals, you never know.'

He snorted. 'My fashion sense isn't _that_ bad.'

My phone pinged from the coffee table. 'Too late, looks like our Zuber is here!' I announced, stuffing the phone in my pocket and marching toward the door.

'Carrots, wait!'

I turned around. 'Yes?'

'Shouldn't we be taking our tasers? Just in case?'

I considered this for a moment, then shrugged. 'Can't see why not,' I replied, hurrying back to my bag and fishing out the heavy device. I turned around and looked quizzically at Nick. 'Aren't you getting yours?'

He grinned back at me and pulled his out of his pocket. 'I was taking mine whether you liked it or not,' he said. 'Come on, let's go.'

* * *

The cab was bigger than I'd expected, a white Herd station wagon with Zuber decals on the doors. The driver, a middle-aged Arctic Fox, waved at us impatiently through the window.

'All right, all right…' I muttered to myself, picking up my pace a little. I grabbed Nick's paw and pulled him along, opening the back door and clambering in. The seats were noticeably large, obviously designed more for Nick's build than mine. Nick seemed to pick up on this.

'You ordered us a fox-sized cab?' he asked.

I nodded. 'It's easier for me to fit in this cab than for you to fit in a bunny-sized cab.' Nick shut the door.

'All right you two, what's the destination?' the driver asked, pressing a few buttons to clear his GPS.

'Number el—' I started, but Nick gave me a warning look.

'The Tundra Wonder Takeaway diner on Markus street,' he said to the driver, who grunted and typed the address.

'Bit of a dodgy area. You sure?' the driver asked cautiously.

'Yep,' replied Nick, 'we're friends with the owner.'

'Alrighty, then.' The car pulled away smoothly, and the driver started humming a little. I guessed it must be pretty boring, just driving around all day.

The drive to Tundratown lasted a full half-hour, even with non-peak traffic. The tunnel road from Central under the refrigeration wall was almost empty, with only a few tired mammals driving around from early-morning work shifts. The air became noticeably colder as we passed through the tunnel, and my breath started to fog up. I shivered. Maybe Nick had been right to wear a hoodie… and anyway, I didn't have a jumper with me. It wasn't like I'd been expecting to go all the way to Tundratown.

'Okay, this is it,' the driver said a while later, pulling up outside a small greasy-looking establishment.

'Th-Thanks!' I chattered, my jaw now spasming a little from the cold.

'Be sure'n give me five stars, mind,' the fox called out. Nick shut the door behind him, and the car pulled away fast enough for the tires to squeal on the asphalt.

'He seems keen to get out of here,' said Nick, scratching under his collar.

'He's p-probably got g-good reason t-to,' I managed, looking around at the tagged shopfronts and warehouses.

Nick looked at me with amusement. 'Having second thoughts about my choice of clothing, Carrots?'

I looked back at him with a pained expression. 'What-t do you think, sly fox?' I asked. He grinned at me, then unzipped the front of his hoodie and wrapped the side around my back. I instantly felt his body heat flooding around me, pushing away the cold air.

'Mm, that's better,' I said, hugging his arm. 'So why are we outside a takeaway place, anyway?'

'Well, going to a restaurant looks more normal than going to a warehouse. Especially since it would look like we're on, you know, a date.' He started walking along the snowy path, pulling me on toward the cluster of warehouses.

'So… how _did_ you know about the shop?' I asked.

'I wasn't lying, I do know the owner of the place,' replied Nick. 'He's one of Big's associates, so I reckon he was the one with info on the warehouse.'

'Huh.' We walked through the thick snow for a minute, until I recognised the particularly patchy-looking Number Eleven. The place seemed to have been lazily repaired, with slightly less-rusty scraps of corrugated iron tek-screwed into place over the old cladding. The 'new' doors on the side of the building were hidden from here by the overgrown hedges, which were luckily still in place.

'There aren't any cameras,' I said in surprise, squinting across the street.

'Do you think we could sneak in and have a look?' asked Nick, looking around cautiously.

I groaned. 'Nick, we're already in enough trouble. Just scouting, taking covert pics, that stuff is, well… _more_ legal than breaking and entering. Let's try and keep this to a minimum.'

'Well, okay… but in case you change your mind, I did bring some extra kit.'

'Such as…?' I could imagine only too well the sort of thing Nick would call 'kit' with that kind of gleam in his eyes.

'Just, ah, the usual bits and bobs,' he said, chuckling a little.

I looked both ways down the street, then tugged Nick's arm.

'Come on!' We crossed the road as quickly as the jacket-sharing situation would allow, with Nick trying to keep it from slipping off with his free arm. Up close, the warehouse looked even more gigantic. It must have been originally designed for use by much larger mammals than us, but the new additions were all closer to the size I was used to. The new entry road looked at most a quarter of the width of the street it led on to.

'Fluff, are you sure we're going to fit behind these?' asked Nick, brushing his paw through one of the hedges. 'They're pretty dense.'

I nodded. 'We can make do. I think we'll fit over there.' I pointed out the area nearer to the side of the warehouse, where the hedge curved slightly away from the brick boundary wall.

'Yes,' said Nick slowly, 'but how long will we have to wait there for? Until the delivery truck comes?'

'Who knows, who cares!' I said, pulling him towards the suitable-looking gap.

'My tail will care! But Carrots, do we have to stay there for the whole day? Don't they only come here at night?' whined Nick, sounding like he already regretted agreeing to come.

'Yeah, we do. It'll be fun, like a stakeout!' I said, almost dragging him now.

' _This_ is _exactly_ why I brought lock picks,' I heard him mutter.

'Well, you aren't going to be using them,' I said. 'We're _just_ doing a stakeout to take pictures.'

'Well, okay. Oh, this is a _bit_ roomier than I thought,' he said, pushing around the bush to the space behind. There was enough room for both of us to fit, albeit a little snugly. I smiled, thinking that that wasn't really a problem at all. I kicked away with my hindpaws at the small piles of snow that had managed to fall through the leaves, then sat down fast, pulling Nick with me.

'Wa— ooph!' he exclaimed. 'Was that really necessary, Fluff?' he asked, gingerly rubbing his ribs with one paw.

'Of course it was! It was funny.' I nuzzled my head into his side, enjoying the protection from the cold. A thought occurred to me and I instantly had to ask, thinking amusedly that _stakeout_ really meant _truth or dare_. 'Nick, how many mammals have you dated?' He looked down at me with a slightly surprised expression, which quickly shifted to a depressed one.

'Um… three,' he said after a short pause. 'Two vixens… and one male fox.' I was a bit surprised. Well, of _course_ I'd heard the stereotype of foxes swinging back and forth between sexualities at maximum velocity… but I'd just dismissed it as another one of the things rabbits had made up.

'Nick, that's not something to be ashamed of,' I said reassuringly.

He nodded. 'Yes, yes I know, but I thought, maybe because of your upbringing, you might, you know… not think that way.'

I shook my head. 'You can't have hundreds of kits without at least a few being bi or gay. My parents have pretty much accepted _that,_ thank goodness.'

'Well… I guess I hadn't thought of it like that. Anyway, I'm not really… not really prepared to talk about my past. If you don't mind.'

'Okay, that's fine. I was just, curious,' I said, hugging his arm, but at the same time wondering… Nick still seemed to have a lot of hurt he was covering up. Could this be why? What exactly did he mean by not wanting to talk about his past? Had he been heartbroken, and never actually dealt with it? I didn't want to upset him, least of all by bringing it up… But what if this was it? One of the reasons he was so, for lack of a better word, distant? I looked up at his face, and there it was. The neutral expression, eyes locked unseeingly on the hedge in front of him. Oh, he normally did a good enough job at hiding it, but once you'd been around him for a while, it was impossible to miss.

'Nick?' I asked. His ear pricked, and his eyes twitched down to look at me. Assuming we only really needed to be here at night?

'Getting impatient already, Carrots?' he asked. I'd have all day to figure him out.

'No, not really. Just one thing, all right?'

'I'm all ears.'

I jumped up, grabbed at the fluff on either side of his face and pulled him forward, kissing him on the end of his muzzle.

He made a small sound of surprise, then cupped my face with a paw, pressing forward a little more.

This promised to be an interesting day, on more than one front.


	5. Chapter 5 - Judy

**A/N:**

 **What a month! The story reached two milestones since Chapter 4: a feature on ZootopiaNewsNetwork (thanks Berserker88!), and achieving 50 followers (at time of publishing, count stands at 63). I really appreciate every view I get, and am immensely gratified that so many of you seem to like reading this story. So, finally, here is Chapter Five.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 _HOUR ONE_

I slowly pulled away, panting a little as I caught my breath. Nick grinned.

'Are you alright there, Carrots? You're, um, breathing all hard.'

I nodded. 'I'm fine,' then lunged forward and hugged him tightly. 'I love you, Nick. But please, don't bury your past. You need to let go of it.'

He leaned back, looking at me with pain in his eyes. 'Are we really going to talk about this now?' I nodded, putting a paw on his shoulder. 'Fine,' he sighed, resting his muzzle in his paw, 'but I'll keep it short. I had a- a pretty messed up childhood. You already know my ma was a very caring old vixen, but I think…' He took a deep breath, '…I think life got too much for her to handle.'

I looked at him cautiously. I spoke with hesitation. 'Did she… is she…dead?' He shook his head.

'One day when I was eleven, I came home from school and was about to go inside when I heard her voice. She was talking loudly, but it just sounded like she was on the phone. So, I went in, and there she was. Sitting on the floor, talking to herself.' He leaned back against the wall. 'I…I didn't really understand at the time, but she'd finally given in to schizophrenia. Well, she'd always been a bit unstable since Dad left, but she'd managed. And me, well… I just didn't know what to do. She was crying to herself, so I went up to her, and…' He trailed off and wiped his eyes.

'What happened?' I asked.

'She looked at me, but she didn't seem normal. She seemed afraid of me, started screaming at me, telling me to get out… I didn't know what to do, I just… I ran away.'

'That's horrible! What did you do?'

'I met Finnick pretty quick, and he took care of me for a while. Taught me a lot about living on the street, making money, and then… I struck out on my own. Didn't see him for years.'

I was quiet for a few minutes. Me having both of my parents it was, I thought, impossible to even comprehend how Nick felt. 'Did you ever… see her again?' I asked hesitantly.

He shrugged. 'Once, in a care home… but it wasn't her. She didn't recognise me, and… I didn't recognise her. It wasn't just that she spoke differently, but she'd aged decades in a few years. After that, there was really no point. I think she got dementia as well, and she just wasn't… wasn't the same person.' His ears drooped further, and he sniffed a little. 'After that, I just couldn't bear it any more. The only relationships I formed didn't really mean much… well, anything. I thought I couldn't really trust anyone. Until, well… until I met you,' he finished, smiling a little.

I hugged him closer. 'Thank you, Nick. It can't have been easy to talk to me.'

'Au contraire! I actually feel better, getting that off my chest.' He nuzzled the top of my head. 'And besides… what did my favourite fluff-ball tell me to do? Let go of my past?'

'Well, _I_ think you'd be better off…' I said with uncertainty.

'And _I_ think you're worth listening to.'

'What about your mum, though?'

He exhaled slowly. 'I'll… visit her. I know she won't recognise me, but I'll do it. You know, to say… just to say goodbye.'

* * *

 _HOUR THREE_

'Okay, here's a good one: What has a head and a tail, but no body?' I asked, reading the riddle off my phone screen.

Nick shifted. 'I'm assuming you aren't talking about Finnick.'

'Hah, no.'

His brow furrowed in concentration. 'A… hmm… a coin!'

 _Ding!_ My phone vibrated as I pressed the 'correct' button, indicating Nick was now ahead on points.

'Yes!' he hissed.

'All right, all right,' I grumbled, passing the phone off to him.

'Let's see…' he cleared his throat, '…What is orange, handsome and bored to death?' I rolled my eyes.

'Every time, you've changed the riddle to be you. You're making it too easy.' I peeked at the actual riddle; _What starts with a letter, ends with the letter, and has a letter inside?_ 'That's almost as easy, anyway. It's an envelope.' I reached across and tapped the 'correct' button.

'Carrots, can I _pleeeease_ go and get some coffee? I'm _dying_ here!' He flopped dramatically backwards, waving his arms around. I giggled.

'Sure thing, Mr. Drama Fox. But only if you get me one too.'

'Thanks, Carrots!' He grinned cheekily, brushing off his jacket and passing me the phone as he stood up to leave. 'See you in a few minutes,' he said, jogging away down the road.

'See you.' I stared after him. He crossed the road quickly and turned left, seemingly knowing where he was going. Just how well did he know Zootopia? Better than I'd thought, obviously. I wondered how long it would take for me to get to know the place. It still seemed so _impossibly_ big, almost maze-like in its structure, its main streets leading to twisty back-alleys… Bunnyburrow, while still massive, was at least more… open. That was the word. Open, and understandable. Getting from Point A to Point B didn't require a map, or even much concentration.

I hugged my arms close to my body, the cold still biting even after the sun was properly up, and wondered how long it would be before Nick got back with the coffee.

At that moment, I noticed something strange; a white van parked in the middle of the road. That hadn't been there before. Sure enough, when I directed my ears at it I could hear the sound of an idling engine. The indicator started clicking.

'Oh, crackers,' I whispered, frantically straining to hear where Nick was. The engine noise revved up as the van pulled into the drive, and I scrambled back through the bushes, making certain I couldn't be seen.

I fumbled a little and dropped my phone in my haste. _Why now?!_ Why did _everything_ have to happen at the wrong time? Nick just _had_ to be gone now. Oh, well. I could do this on my own. I picked my phone up again.

A quiet, electric whirring filled my ears as the doors slid along their runners, probably activated by the van's driver. I crept closer to the door, keeping my back to the wall, and angled my camera through the thick foliage. The doors clicked as they reached their limiters, and the interior of the warehouse was filled with a sudden flickering of bright fluorescent lights.

I barely managed to stop myself from gasping audibly. I tapped the 'record' button on my phone just as the van started to continue through the door. The enormity of what I was seeing… If this was what I thought it was… this changed everything. I kept recording, trying to stop my paw from shaking as I looked up at countless rows of boxes, each bearing the same bold logo…

The van was out of sight now, but I could hear the sound of a door slamming, followed by a few light footfalls as a mammal exited the vehicle. I heard another click as the rear door opened, followed by a series of huffs as whatever animal it was laboured under the weight of another box. I sniffed a few times, hoping to catch their scent, and jumped as I instead smelled a strong aroma of cheap coffee.

'Ohh, sshhhi- weet cheese and crackers,' I whispered, hurriedly looking around for Nick. I spotted him, walking across the street while sipping from a cup, carrying a second in his paw. I felt helpless, watching him continue forward carelessly without knowing he'd be completely exposed in a mere few steps.

Wait… I only needed to distract him, stop him for a little longer. I cast my eyes around on the ground. There had to be _something_ here. I quickly came upon a small piece of mulched tree-bark; perfect. Picking it up, I took aim through the hedge and threw it straight at Nick. It hit his chest squarely and bounced off onto the ground, startling him. He stopped, looking around in confusion. His ears pricked, and his nose twitched a few times as he instinctively sniffed for danger. He raised his eyebrows in my general direction, then started creeping slowly forward, still sniffing the air as he did so. He peeked around the corner of the hedge, then made a dash across the drive and practically dived into the hedge on my side, spilling droplets of coffee everywhere.

' _What are you doing?!'_ I hissed, pulling him further out of sight. 'Do you even _realise_ what's going on here?'

'Your coffee was getting cold,' he deadpanned, offering me the cup. I took it, and Nick put his paw in his pocket instead. 'Soo,' he asked, 'what _is_ going on here?'

I raised an eyebrow. 'Funny you should ask. But that warehouse is full of boxes with the TAME logo, and personally, I want to know _why.'_ I paused to let that sink in. Nick looked briefly surprised.

'No way,' he said, trying to catch a glimpse through the doors, which were now shutting behind the van.

'Yes way,' I replied. 'I don't know what's going on here. Maybe this is all a mistake, and this is just a storage facility or something…' My mind raced, sorting through what we knew. 'But, why is it all secretive? There _has_ to be something more here…'

Nick nodded in agreement. 'Having been part of some… legally _dubious_ organisations, I think I know the signs of one when I see one. And this place definitely has something fishy about it.' The doors closed with a bang, followed by a _whirr-click_ as something locked into place.

'Such as that?' I asked, pointing at the doors.

'I admit you don't need to be a criminal expert to figure that one out. Fire doors in place of roller doors is a bit over the top,' he replied. 'Did you get the photos?'

I pulled out my phone and showed him the brief seconds of footage I'd managed to capture from the inside of the warehouse. His expression went from its usual smug, to surprised, then shocked as he saw even the small section of the inside I'd managed to film.

'What are they _doing_ in there, organising Prime shipping? Since when does TAME need a storage warehouse?' I realised he was right. Didn't they already supply the collars to everyone?

I tapped him on the shoulder. 'Nick, I think we should go now. We got what we came for… but I'm not sure these are the mammals we were looking for.'

He nodded. 'Come on, then. I'll order us another Zuber.'

'Thank you,' I said, pushing my way back through the hedge. 'I might get off at my place, though. To get my stuff ready to move.' As I said it, I felt a warm tingle in my stomach. This was actually happening. We were finally going to live together. Nick seemed to feel the same nervous excitement as me. He was smiling, but his ears were pinned back at the same time.

As we walked down the road, Nick took out his phone and started tapping, presumably ordering the Zuber cab. 'It'll be here in five,' he said, putting his phone back into his pocket and fidgeting with his paw. I took a sip of my coffee, almost gagging at how bad it tasted.

'Where'd you get this stuff?' I asked, sincerely hoping the answer had nothing to do with garbage disposal.

'Oh, just from a little café near where we got off. The place is pretty popular, but no-one's there at this time.'

'Okay.' I kept walking, taking the occasional slurp of coffee. No matter how overpoweringly sugary it was, at least it was _warm_. Maybe that was the main selling point.

The car was already waiting beside the path, this time an odd make I didn't recognise. The car had several odd protrusions, one of them spinning rapidly.

'What in the world…?' I said, walking around and opening the passenger door. 'Excuse me, sir, but… What?' I trailed off as I realised no-one was sitting in the driver's seat. Nick, who had walked up beside me, suddenly broke down in a violent fit of laughter. 'What's so funny?' I demanded.

'Carrots… that's an driverless cab,' he managed. 'The… the look on your face…priceless.'

'It's a what?' I asked. _This_ was something new.

'It, well, drives itself. They're doing tests of these on the road now. We must have got lucky, and this was closest.'

'So do I just…' I gestured at the seat.

'Yeah, sure. Just pretend it's a normal car.' _Okay…_ I stepped in and sat in the driver's… in what would _normally_ be the driver's seat. The screen on the dash lit up, telling me to select a location from the app. Nick had already sat in the passenger seat, and was in the process of searching my address. He tapped on his screen, and the car beeped, before pulling away from the kerb.

'Nice, electric too,' said Nick. 'We'll be at yours in about half an hour.'

* * *

The car stopped outside the drab-looking Pangolin Arms building. The daylight cast an even worse light on the place, highlighting the spidery cracks along the outer walls.

'Well, see you soon,' I said to Nick, giving his paw a squeeze and stretching up to kiss his cheek.

'You too, Fluff.' I stepped thankfully out into the warm Central air, glad to be back in a heated ecosystem, and walked back up to my apartment. I opened the door and looked around at the dim, cramped space. This place, for all its faults, had been… something of a home. I'd lived here for almost all of my time in Zootopia and, no matter how small, that meant something to me.

I started on packing away the clothes, sorting them into piles and packing them into my larger suitcase, all the while thinking about what I'd seen in the warehouse. The image of piles upon piles of collar boxes had imprinted itself upon my mind. There was something about seeing it that made me keep _thinking_ about it, churning over the possibilities in my mind. How had the collars got there? What was happening behind the reinforced steel doors that was so secretive?

Had we made a mistake?

I placed the last emptied hanger back on the rack, and moved on to my desk. I collected the various papers and notebooks that I'd left on the desk, stuffing them into the suitcase's front pouch, and moved toward the door. I gave the room one last glance, checking for anything I might have left behind, but the small size of the apartment quickly betrayed its emptiness. I scooped my iPawd, earphones and keys off the side table, then unlocked the door.

The next stop was angry Dharma. She gave me a few choice words, and extracted a ridiculous fee for leaving within the rent period before escorting me outside and slamming the door. I sighed, and started my walk to Nick's apartment block.

By this time, the sun had almost reached its zenith and was beating down hard on the pavements of Savannah Central, causing heat waves to rise through the air. It was the kind of day when many animals were undoubtedly enjoying the comfort inside their homes. As I navigated through the backstreets, the absence of traffic gave the place an almost abandoned feel, as though every mammal had decided to just up and leave. In fact, the only traffic I saw, car or otherwise, was a black removals van headed in the opposite direction.

Nick's apartment building was modern, yet understated; fairly small compared to the big city towers, being only a few stories tall, but architecture of the same glass-front style. I entered the building with his spare key-card and bounded up the stairs, feeling overwhelmingly joyful as I reached Nick's floor. This was going to be _my_ home too, now. We could go out when we wanted, eat together, sleep together… just the thought of it all sent a warm tingle up my spine. My whole life seemed to have led up to this point.

I ran to the apartment door, feeling like I was floating with happiness, and skidded to a stop.

I felt my smile falter, then vanish along with my fantasies as I reached up to swipe the card.

Something wasn't right. The electronic lock's bolt was showing through a splintered hole in the door. I dropped my suitcase and, pushing my paw against the door, shoved it open. The lock offered no resistance, and the door swung open, bouncing off the wall inside. I took a step into the room, sniffing the air. Nothing smelled _wrong_ … but still, what had happened?

'Nick?' I called cautiously.

Silence.

I picked my suitcase up again and walked into the living room. I was about to call out again when I noticed the state the room was in. It looked as though the space had been redecorated by a tornado; the couch was torn in several places and knocked over, as was the table, and a shattered mug lay on the carpet, a stain around it.

My mind went blank with panic. 'Nick!' I called again, hoping it had just been a robbery, and not something worse…

The damage seemed to get worse the more I looked. Several claw-marks were gouged into the carpet, dragging in the direction of the door.

I pulled out my phone and pressed on Nick's contact and waited, hoping desperately that he would pick up. Instead, I head something much worse. His ringtone was coming from underneath the couch. I walked towards it, time slowing down as I picked up the battered device and turned it over. The screen had one long scratch down the middle, and the back had three more, as though it had been ripped out of his paw…

 _Oh, crap!_

I froze in fear, not able to think clearly. After all that had happened, abduction too? What was happening to Nick at this moment? Was he… alive?

'No!' I yelled. 'Come on, pull it together, Judy…' I put my hands over my eyes, trying to concentrate.

I don't know how long I stood there for before realising that I should call the ZPD. After all, they could help, right?

I clicked the contact for Chief Bogo in my phone and waited impatiently for him to pick up.

'Yes?' he finally said, his voice sounding gruff and uninterested.

'Sir, it's Officer Hopps,' I started, unsure how to communicate the seriousness of the issue without giving too much away.

'Ah, Hopps. I was wondering when you'd call.'

This threw me off. 'Chief?'

'Yes, I've been having correspondence with the council. They all say the suspension order was genuine, but no-one knows who gave it.'

'Sir, this isn't about the suspension. I went to visit Nick, but he wasn't in his apartment. I think he's been abducted.'

Bogo didn't speak for a few seconds. Then, 'Hopps, I'm sure you're overreacting. He probably just went for a walk, and—'

'—and ripped up his sofa?' I interrupted, frustrated. 'Smashed his own coffee table? Broke down his own door? Sir, I believe I know what I'm talking about. This is serious!'

He sighed. 'Hopps, I recommend you do _not_ talk to me like that.'

'Sorry, sir. Can you send a forensics team in here?'

I heard a buzz, then Bogo's voice talking, probably on another phone. It sounded like arguing.

'They're on their way. In the meantime, can you tell me anything that might help? Has Officer Wilde been involved, in some way, with any group or individual that may have been behind this?'

'Um…' Should I tell him? 'No, sir. Not that I'm aware of.'

'Well, Hopps. ETA of the Forensics team is four minutes from now. I've sent Officers Snarlov and Wolfard to… have a sniff around, as it were. Good day.'

I took the phone away from my ear, feeling distinctly unsettled. Just how much use would a forensics team be? It's not like they'd be able to trace his location. At most, they'd probably find out the species of whoever had broken in, maybe some hints as to how they'd managed to subdue him… whatever they'd done, he'd sure put up a fight. I looked once more over the furniture, noticing how all of the claw-marks seemed to have been Nick's. Well, it looked like we'd have to get a new sofa…

I felt a pang of dread. _If I ever find him…_

I started pacing the room, trying to release some of the panicked energy I could feel slowly building inside me. I walked past the window, then stopped, backtracking a step. At first, I wasn't sure what had caught my attention, and just stared absently at the street below. Then I noticed a familiar-looking small black van, parked right at the base of the building. The same one I'd seen earlier, driving away from this street…

'Damn,' I whispered, my ears jumping up as I felt my fear kick up into full terror mode. I dropped to all fours and leapt behind the couch, curling up just as the door smashed open again, revealing a pair of rams.

They trotted into the room, peering around with eyes more suited to bright daylight. Instinct, passed down from thousands of generations, forced me to stay still and quiet. I saw a gap opening up near the door, a small crack I _might_ fit through, given just enough time…

The rams kept moving slowly forward, one of them hanging back a bit. I shifted my weight back, tensing my legs, feeling like a coiled spring as I readied to make the leap…

'THERE!' one of them yelled, and I bounded for the door, racing as fast as my legs could carry me. I was almost there before I felt a hoof grab me from behind. I twisted violently, kicking out at my assailant, but it felt like kicking a brick wall. I simply didn't have enough strength to do damage against a large mammal. I twisted again, desperately struggling to unclamp the ram's grip on my torso, and this time received a retaliatory blow to the head.

White spots popped in front of my eyes, and I suddenly felt extremely weak. I gasped, still trying to fight my way away, but I'd lost any remaining focus long ago. I saw the shadow of the second ram approaching, and felt a sharp prick of pain as a needle was inserted into my arm.

Soon enough, though, the pain was slipping away… had there been any pain at all?

I heard a small crackle, then a low voice speaking nearby. 'We've got her, boss.'

I felt incredibly slow, struggling to process this. What boss? But it didn't matter. My vision started to fade, and I closed my eyes, feeling myself drift away…


	6. Chapter 6 - Judy

**A/N: Well that took a while. I kind of got caught up in other stuff (in real life, would you believe), such as exams and _First Robotics Competition_ pre-season training. Oh, well. Here's the chapter. I really appreciate any feedback you give me, so keep leaving those reviews! Thanks.**

* * *

 _Panic filled the air, wiping any last vestiges of rational thought from my brain._

 _Bellwether, her face twisted in an aggressive snarl, pointed the gun at Nick._

 _I watched with horror as she tightened her grip, time seeming to slow down, become fluid…_

 _We hadn't prepared for this._

 _She smiled as she pulled the trigger._

 _The gun recoiled as it ejected the serum-filled ball. The air rippled as it passed, tearing toward its target…_

 _A ripple of dark blue splattered the fur around Nick's neck, and glass crystals sprinkled the rocks. He whimpered in pain, and I was suddenly beside him._

 _'No. Nick, please! NO!' I stared in shock as he trembled beside me, whimpering in pain as the drug took hold._

 _'But Judy, ALL predators are savages. He was always going to kill you.' She bared her teeth in glee, enjoying her moment of victory._

 _'Bye bye, bunny.'_

'No…'

 _Nick moved faster than I thought possible, flicking around as he crouched on all four paws. He tensed, ready for the kill—_

'Nick…no…'

 _He sprang forward, his teeth flashing like white knives toward my neck…_

'AAAAAAHH!'

I sat bolt upright, feeling an instant slap of pain as my ear caught under my elbow. I dropped back to the ground, still feeling my heart racing in fear at the image of the savage fox, angry and uncontrolled…

I shook myself, untangling my ears, and tried to stand up.

 _Ouch._ A dull, aching pain in my left temple briefly dazed me, leaving me floundering on the floor. Where did that come from? I massaged the sore spot, feeling a tender raised lump. My paw brushed against something else, and I slightly panicked when I realised what it was. It was impossible, but… there was no mistaking the thick band I could feel around my neck.

'What the…?' I tugged at it, finding it was locked. The shock collar's electrodes were digging into the skin on the left side of my neck.

I slowly got to my feet, this time able to do so without being blinded by pain, and looked for a reflective surface, something I could use as a mirror. Scanning the room, I noticed an oddly familiar pattern of furniture. The curved desk, the drawers, the potted plant… It looked like my ZPD office.

I shivered, wondering how I'd got here, and put my paw into my pocket for my phone. Instead, I felt a small, rugged object. _My taser._ Suddenly, memories came flooding back. The stakeout, the warehouse, not finding Nick…

 _Nick._ Where was he? I looked around again as though I'd see a sign pointing in his direction. I felt in my pocket and, to my surprise, found my taser still there. I crept to the door, listening for sounds from the other side. I pressed my ear against it. Still nothing. I took a deep breath, pushed the door open and stepped out, feeling a tingle of nervousness as I saw where I was. I was standing on a metal-grate catwalk, overlooking a warehouse full of boxes. The full scale of the place now sprawled before me, looking much more grand in person than in the narrow swathe I'd managed to video.

'So!' I whipped around, almost tripping in my haste to find the voice. 'What do you think?'

A short, chubby porcupine wearing a business suit was waddling towards me. I resisted the urge to draw my taser straight away in surprise. I started to reply angrily when a sharp jolt of white-hot pain shot down my neck, making my muscles spasm. I clapped a paw over my mouth, trying not to shout out in shock at the sensation of hot shards ripping through my skin…

As abruptly as it had come, the pain disappeared, leaving me panting as I tried to catch my breath.

The porcupine laughed. 'Sorry about that. As I was about to say before you interrupted, I can activate your collar any time I want.' He flashed his teeth, grinning sadistically. 'So, what do you think? Pretty impressive operation, wouldn't you say?'

I tried to steady my breathing. Well, so much for being able to defend myself. _Focus._ 'Nick… Officer Wilde… what have you done with him?' My voice sounded hoarse and scratchy even to my own ears.

He tilted his head. 'Let's just say that the beast has been _dealt with_ , for now.'

'And what's that supposed to mean?' I asked, feeling justifiably apprehensive. What could a pred-hater, given free reign, have done with a fox?

The porcupine scrutinised me for a second. 'You'll see,' he said, waving his paw in dismissal. 'Follow me.'

He started walking around the metal catwalk, his claws clanging on the metal. At first I didn't move. Why should I go _anywhere_ with this… this segregationist monster? Well, it was obvious I didn't really have a choice. But if he _was_ going to bring me to Nick… I groaned and started forwards, realising just how bad the situation was. Stuck in the grasp of the very organisation I'd just been spying on, _with_ a mammal who was apparently a member.

As we walked around the catwalk, headed towards the rooms on the other side, I could see much more of the operations of the warehouse. The entry door was closed, but the spot where the van had parked earlier was visible. An old forklift stood nearby, presumably to lift multiple stacks of boxes. Behind the shelves, I could make out a large workbench with a tool rack, an open TAME box on the ground beside it. The box was half-full of collars, the rest spread out on the bench and being worked on furiously by several moles with soldering irons.

While I watched, one of them picked up a small circuit board from a box, soldered it on top of the original contacts, and re-sealed the collar's metal case. He then peeled a small yellow sticker off the back and dropped the collar into a bag, efficiently repeating the process with the next collar.

The porcupine glanced back and noticed where I was watching. He laughed. 'Yes, that's what it looks like. We've been specialising the collar design for some of our customers.'

I looked down at the storage area, then back to the table. 'So they _are_ TAME…' I whispered to myself.

'Yep,' he said, apparently having heard me. 'We've had the tech boys "repairing" the collars that get sent in to us. Of course, they had to pass official safety inspections when we first supplied them, but when they come back in for maintenance or modification, it's all possible. Let's just say we add a few — modifications — of our own.'

I touched the metal module locked to my neck. So… they _were_ being modified. How many others were like mine? If Nick's wasn't before, it almost certainly was now. My ears drooped. I could only hope that he was okay…

We kept walking in silence, the large size of the warehouse and the slow pace at which we traversed it making it seem as though it would take forever to get anywhere. We just walked around a corner, nearly at the end room, when a hairy pig bustled up the staircase carrying a large camera and tripod, nearly bowling the porcupine and I over.

'Out of the way! Out of the— Oh, sorry, Mr. Sharpe. Excuse me, coming through.' He squeezed his belly past us on the catwalk, followed by two rams, one carrying a boom microphone, the other a bundle of wires and a laptop. I watched in confusion as they trotted off back towards where I'd woken up. What on Earth was going on? I looked at my porcupine captor, obviously the brains of the operation here. The way that the pig had suddenly seemed contrite when he realised who he'd almost pushed… it was clear who was boss.

We walked the final twenty metres to the room at a slightly brisker pace, as though this Mr. Sharpe was keen to do something, or get something over with. I tensed as he fished around in his pocket for keys, my mind already conjuring up images that wouldn't look out of place in a horror movie. A bloodstained torture chamber, complete with dentist's chair and an assortment of power tools with— I mentally cut myself off. That kind of thinking wasn't helpful. It wasn't going to stop the bad guys, or get Nick and I out of here. If I'd been worried before, it was nothing compared to what I felt now.

The lock turned and Sharpe marched through the door, banging it against the frame.

The reality, while nowhere near as bad as my twisted imagination, was still disturbing. Nick was seated on a chair, his head drooping onto his chest, seemingly in unconsciousness. Another ram was standing guard, armed with what looked like a dart gun. Nick's arms and legs had several long scratches, and his shirt was torn in a few places too. Pawcuffs bound his arms together behind the chair back.

I stepped forward, determined to reach him and make sure he was okay, to hug him and let him know we were both going to be all right… It was probably a good thing that Sharpe reached out an arm and stopped me. It would've been a lie.

'Not now!' he hissed, pushing me back a pace and almost throwing me off-balance. I gave him an angry stare, prepared to fight through him if necessary, when Nick suddenly stirred. I saw it out of the corner of my eye, but something didn't look right about the way he moved. I stopped, watching. His ears twitched, then shot up. He opened his eyes and looked directly at me, expression devoid of his usual, adorably annoying, smug grin.

'Nick…?' I said. He tilted his head, then turned away and sniffed the air as though he hadn't heard me. 'Nick!' I repeated, louder. He growled, looking at me with an expression that honestly scared me. It appeared, for the most part, to mirror what he had looked like in the museum. But the eyes, no… his eyes were full of a malicious intelligence. Even though I knew he was secured, I couldn't help but cringe away.

There was a loud pop, and a dart suddenly materialised just below his collar. He yelped, then blinked in confusion. His head dropped onto his chest, and his movements slowed once more. I didn't know what to say. It was obvious, from even the short time I'd seen him conscious, that he was under the influence of a Night Howler dose. I shivered at the thought, looking at him with pity. It didn't _look_ like he was in pain. But who knew? He was obviously being kept at bay with some kind of tranquilliser. But would… would he remember me? Even a little bit?

Sharpe was speaking. '—are just that. You see, we want to be able to control him, but we also want him to _be_ a predator, look like one.'

I turned to him, my fists clenched with fury. So it was all him. ' _What_ have you done to him?' I asked, speaking every syllable icily. 'How are you… _controlling_ him? _Why?'_

He grinned. 'I'm _so_ glad you asked!' He sounded just like a fanatical lecturer. 'We've been trying different combinations of NH serum with sedative, just to see whether we could get the behaviour we're hoping for. Your… _partner…_ ' he said the word as though it was bitter on his tongue, '…has been helping us with that. As to why, well, I wouldn't want to spoil a good surprise for you. Wait, and you'll see.' I couldn't even think of words that would express how angry I was. And I didn't want to think of words for how afraid I was. They were using him, just like some kind of test subject. But to what end? This was _sick…_ sick, and wrong. It didn't look like I had a choice, however. Thanks to the stupid collar, I was just as helpless as Nick was. I got the feeling I was only conscious because they couldn't be bothered dragging me around.

The guard walked forwards and unlocked the pawcuffs. He yanked the dart out of Nick's neck, then hefted him up and tucked him under his arm. Sharpe gestured for me to follow as they headed back out onto the catwalk.

The walk back felt even longer than the walk there. I trudged along behind the ram, watching with concern as Nick's head jolted up and down with each step, his ears flopping back and forth.

'Do you know how long it's taken me to set this up?' asked Sharpe, looking over the railing at the racks of boxes below. When I didn't respond, he chuckled. 'Of course you don't. I've been doing this for years, but I'm nearly done, what with the recent success.' I tried to process this, my head still feeling like it was filled with cotton wool. The tranquilliser I'd been given must have been strong stuff.

'You mean the collar laws?' I asked. 'You think getting collars on every predator will get you what you—' I stopped. Actually, what did he want? Was he like Bellwether? Did he want to make and rule his own prey-dominated Zootopia? Commit genocide? I quickly changed what I was saying. '—never mind. Why are you doing this? Why are you torturing innocent predators?'

He stopped walking and grabbed my wrist, jerking me to a stop. 'Listen here, you ignorant rabbit. _Don't_ talk about what you don't know! Predators are _not_ innocent!' he yelled. 'They _deserve_ to be exiled from Zootopia!' I saw it then, and suddenly knew. A flicker of pain beneath the angry glare in his eyes. He didn't just object to predators and prey living together. Something had happened to him, something involving a predator… _that_ had to be the reason. I blinked, finally understanding something here. But what was going to happen to Nick? What was going to happen to both of us?

'Go!' he yelled, shoving me forwards and making me stumble again. For someone who looked like they spent most of their time at a desk, he sure was strong. Or at least, violent.

I sped up my pace to catch up with the ram, who had almost made it back to the room. The room that looked like my office. Again, I was left with questions. Why? How did they know what my office looked like? It's not like it had ever been photographed. The constant, annoying interviews after the Night Howler case had all happened elsewhere, thank goodness.

As we got closer to the end of the catwalk, I heard several clicks.

'Idiot, THAT cable, not the power cord!' a voice yelled from inside. I approached the door behind the ram carrying Nick, and went through.

The inside of the room was now dominated by the four large mammals, three of whom were setting up the recording equipment they had been carrying. The camera was now mounted on a tripod and pointed into the centre of the room, a cable trailing along the floor to the boom mic. The boom was being held aloft by one of the rams, while the other cursed as he failed again to plug the camera into his computer.

'Here!' The pig swatted away the ram, moving into his place and crouching down with the cable in one hoof. 'You plugged it into the ethernet port, dipshit!' He jammed the cable in, then looked up. 'Ah, you're all here. Good, we're just about ready to start filming.'

 _Filming?!_

'What are you filming?' I blurted, apprehensive.

Sharpe grinned. 'Just a little warning,' he said, in a tone that made me suspect 'little' was an understatement.

'A warning?'

I looked over at Nick, who'd been dumped in the centre of the room, and mentally shrank back as my mind opened to a terrible possibility.

Night Howler serum…

Nick 'being' a predator…

And, me. Defenceless.

They were filming my death.

As soon as I could sense how close I was to danger, time seemed to speed up. A ram approached Nick with another needle. My collar clanked as it unlocked and dropped to the floor.

 _Of course._ If they could show the world their view of the predator… what choice would prey mammals have but to be that bit more afraid? Even if they _were_ believers in predator and prey equality, what would they think of a predator, apparently savage of his own accord?

'Now, I just want you to stand over here…' Sharpe said, steering me by the shoulder. He gave the appearance of calm, but his almost skin-piercing grip told otherwise. I knew if I stepped out of line now, he would still be able to force me back. There were just too many large mammals. If, however, I could get an element of surprise…

'We just want to film you with the fox here… Yes, that's good.' Sharpe scurried away to stand with his guard. I stood only an arm's length away from Nick, who had started to stir from the injected stimulant.

At first, he seemed merely confused. He put a paw to his head, and opened his eyes slowly. He moved as though to try and sit up. I quickly glanced around. The room was silent, but for Nick's sleepy stirring. The pig had his eye pressed greedily into the viewfinder, as though he couldn't afford to miss the action. Mr Sharpe was standing beside him, the white reflections in his glasses obscuring his eyes, a nasty grin stretching his lips.

I looked back at Nick, who still seemed too out of it to be any threat, and tried to imagine how this could play out. My first instinct was to run, but I knew that wouldn't be any help. Logic told me that the only way out of this would be to fight, and fight hard. Possibly… _probably_ against Nick, too.

A loud zapping sound emanated from Nick's collar, bringing about a sudden change in his behaviour. Instantly recovered from the sedative, he shook his head and clambered to his four paws. Just as he had before, he sniffed the air before looking around, as if he was more reliant on his nose than his eyes. He tensed, seeming to smell me. His tail rigid, he turned to face me, ears upright.

 _Oh, crackers._ I started to back up, all too aware of the wall close behind me. I felt for my taser and pulled it out of my pocket, readying for the worst as Nick shifted his weight and crept forward.

'Put that down, Hopps. Don't make me electrocute your _friend_ ,' said Sharpe. His tone was mocking, but his face told a different story. There was a hint of real worry there.

That was it! Whatever I did, they needed the recording for their plan — whatever that was. All I had to do was… refuse to die. Not exactly a great insight, as that had already been the _general_ idea I'd had, but still…

I quickly stowed the taser again. _Only one shot, Judy._

I slowly crept backwards. _Just like in the museum._ This time, it was no act. No charade. Adrenaline pounded its way through my veins, coiling my muscles tight. I could do this, but I needed to time it perfectly.

He growled and crouched, ready to pounce. Very much the predator.

I briefly ran over my attack strategy in my head. How had it come to this?

'Sorry, Nick.'

He leaped directly at me, mouth open wide. I ducked and rolled to the left, wincing as I heard a _crack_ from where I had been standing moments before. I jumped up and, hating myself already, kicked him in the head. He slumped, dazed.

It all happened in the space of a second and, before any of the larger mammals had a chance to react, I went on the offensive. I bounded across the room and leaped into the air, landing a kick squarely into the face of the pig. He toppled, not having seen my approach through the viewfinder, and I leapt clear of him and the falling camera.

'Stop!' Sharpe yelled, sounding panicked as he scrambled away. The rams were much harder to dispatch, it was obvious that at least two were experienced fighters. I ploughed into the one closest to me, punching as hard as I could, and instantly found myself shoved backward. I dodged to the right as another charged in from behind, and heard an almighty _thump_ as they collided. I skidded around and started running back towards them. They had both collapsed in a heap. I jumped up and rebounded off them, flew toward the last ram and kicked him in the head. He didn't even see it coming.

I landed and, panting, I quickly surveyed the damage. Three unconscious rams. One unconscious pig. A pile of tangled wires. And Mr Sharpe. He stood near the door, with a phone in one paw, and what looked like a metal remote control in the other.

'I… WARNED…YOU!' he yelled, spit flying from his muzzle.

'No…' I realised what he was about to do a second before it happened. I was frozen to the spot as he clicked in a button on the metal device.

Nick screamed in pain, yelping as his collar delivered a series of sharp zaps to his neck.

I clutched my ears, trying to resist running to him. 'Stop it!' I shouted, not caring, or even knowing by this point how little of a difference my words could make. 'Stop, just— you're going to kill him!' It was as much of a realisation as it was an accusation.

Sharpe briefly let go of the button. His face contorted. 'Don't you listen?' he spat. ' _Don't_ —talk—about—what—you—don't—UNDERSTAND!' he finished in a yell. He took a deep breath, then screamed, 'I HAD TO WATCH MY FAMILY _DIE—_ BECAUSE OF A _PREDATOR!'_ He clenched the remote in his paw again, triggering another series of yelps and whines from Nick.

I ran to Nick and started tugging at his collar, futilely attempting to remove the terrible thing. It wouldn't budge, it was too tight.

It was then I noticed the blood leaking from his mouth. His yelping was subsiding, replaced by pained moaning. It was too much to bear.

A memory floated to the surface of my mind, one from only a few hours before. Nick, adorably dramatic, flailing on the ground as he pretended to die from tiredness. That sly smirk just touching the corners of his lips, his eyes glancing at me, seeking my approval. The Nick before me was all too different from the one I knew.

I started crying, feeling physical pain almost as cutting as though I, too, were wearing a collar. A collar around my heart.

The zapping stopped again, and this time I looked up. Sharpe was staring at me, his lip twisted in a smirk.

'You _actually_ believe him, don't you?' he asked. 'You think he's just like you? Yes, you do. I can see that. You think _he—'_ Nick's collar sparked again, but he didn't react, '— _cares_ about you?'

I gasped, quickly pressing my ear to his chest. I could hear a heartbeat, but it was weak and fluttery.

'Shit! Nick, BREATHE!' I rolled him over and tried to start chest compressions, but his ribcage was prohibitively solid. No matter how hard I pushed, I could barely feel the thick bones moving.

Sharpe laughed, a cruel, mirthless sound. 'You should be _thankful_ if he doesn't live. He doesn't care about you.'

I turned to him, as incredulous as I was furious. 'How can you say that?! You don't know him, you monster!'

'You can't feel it?' he asked, his voice hoarse and menacing.

'FEEL WHAT?!'

I was only half-concentrating, however, as I heard Nick's shallow breathing level out. We might just make it out of here, alive. We _had_ to.

'The anger, the aggression, the… _savage_ nature, of preds. It's there, believe me. They pretend it isn't, but that's not real. That's just an act! A front!' He looked positively mad, and dangerously close to pressing the button again. 'All they really want… well, it's obvious, really. They live out their lives as parasites, fleas on our great society. The only reason they try to control their… urges, is so they can continue to be parasites.' It was nuts. Sharpe was deluding himself. He was just like a conjuror who believed his own tricks.

Nick groaned softly, then rolled over. Sharpe's eyes darted toward this movement, gleaming with malice.

'Stop! NO!' I screamed, jumping up and rushing him. Once again, his quickness belied his physicality. He dodged, managing to avoid being battered, but I'd done what I could to delay him for now.

I put my paw into my pocket and pulled out the taser, quickly flipping the safety off and taking aim. One target, one shot.

Sharpe saw my move and bolted for the door, setting Nick's collar off as he ran. I turned, distracted, to the renewed eruption of crackling behind me.

Nick's pained green eyes locked on mine, freezing me from across the room as the rest of his body convulsed violently. No longer entirely animalistic, they leaked tears of pain onto the carpet, and seemed to plead with me. _Make it stop. Please_.

I gasped, trying to drown the sudden storm of protective instinct that was insisting I stay. That I comfort Nick, make him better. I knew that staying, instead of chasing down Sharpe, could mean death.

The continuing series of crackling zaps from his collar brought me back to my senses. There was no way he could survive _that_ for long.

'Don't you _dare_ die on me, Nicholas!' I shouted, my hindpaws slamming against the metal as I sprinted out of the room. I could just hear Sharpe's footsteps pattering away on the stairs to the ground floor. I gave chase, raising my ears to properly locate him. I darted along the catwalk, then down the nearest staircase. I reached the bottom and kept going flat out across the concrete-slab floor, hearing Sharpe's laboured breathing more clearly as I started to catch up.

I reached the edge of the first row of boxes just as I saw the ends of his quills disappear around the row ahead. Where was he going? He seemed to be headed someplace specific in the warehouse.

Hearing him slow down, I crept forward, straining my ears for any sound that could indicate what he was doing.

A few muffled clicks came from something around the corner. It sounded like Sharpe was climbing something. Again I moved forward, keeping myself close to the wall of cardboard beside me. Just as I was about to peek around the corner, I was startled backwards by the sound of an old engine screeching as it turned over, then roaring to life close by.

Oh, crackers. _The forklift._

I ducked to the side as the machine came rushing around the corner, prongs extended at head height. Sharpe was in the driver's seat, protected by the thick plastic windshield. He spun the forklift to face me and waved his paw in the air, still clenching the remote in a death-grip. The forklift lurched forward and almost gutted me straight away, forcing me to leap aside and press back against the wall of boxes.

The forklift careened past, Sharpe cursing wildly as he spun around for another pass. This time he had a much better chance of hitting me, actually having taken the time to line up.

As the forklift turned I saw that the cabin was open at the sides, giving me a brief window of opportunity that I wasted no time in exploiting. I jumped, using the wall as a springboard to launch myself up and forward, aiming through the window.

 _Pop!_ The taser darts shot forward and buried themselves in Sharpe's chest.

'AAAH!' He squealed in surprise, then in pain as I squeezed the trigger fully back, unleashing a quick zap to his midsection. He twitched for a few seconds, then slumped onto the steering wheel, apparently fainted. I looked at him in surprise, not having expected such a strong effect straight away.

'Wow,' I muttered, shaken after the shock of nearly being squashed and impaled. I reached forward and quickly checked under his eyelid, then hovered my paw over his muzzle. Breathing, but unconscious. I checked the taser, noticing that the small selector switch was set to the 'large mammal' position. Whoops.

Not having forgotten the reason for my chase, I prised the remote control and phone from his grip, then jumped to the ground and ran back to the stairs.

 _Please, please, please be all right…_ I sprinted as fast as I could, hoping, unrealistically I knew, that Nick would be awake and ready to go. That he'd get up, and follow me as we ran out of here, putting this whole mess behind us.

Reality was harsh.

I bounded to the door, having nearly convinced myself that what I'd hoped for would be true, and opened it. Nick was still lying on the ground, his ears drooping.

'Nick!' I dropped the remote and phone, sliding to a stop beside his motionless form. 'Nick, come on!' I jiggled his shoulder. It moved, unrestrained by the loose muscles I could feel under his skin. 'Oh dammit. No, no…' I whispered, pressing my paw into his neck. The fur there was singed and blackened from his collar's arcs of plasma, presumably when I'd struggled to lift it away from his skin. I felt, pressing with my paw, my own heartbeats marching faster as I waited for one of Nick's.

 _You can do this._ I looked into his eyes, which, devoid of movement, seemed glassy and impenetrable.

There! A weak pulse drove sluggishly under his skin. It wasn't much, but _anything,_ after heart trauma to that degree, was incredibly lucky. I pricked my ears at a clanging from the lower floor, realising it wouldn't be long before the rest of the mammals in the warehouse figured out what had happened. _Get out! Now!_

I scampered over to where I'd dropped the phone, hoping to call for backup, and found it still video-recording. I stopped the camera and navigated to the voice call app, noting with relief the full signal bars. The recent upgrades to Zootopia's mobile networks had vastly improved coverage, but Tundratown was still infamous for being fraught with blackspots.

Confronted with the on-screen dial pad, I had a moment of uncertainty about who I should actually contact. An ambulance? The general emergency line? After a second of indecision, I decided on Chief Bogo. I quickly thumbed in the Precinct One number, then held the phone to my ear. The dial tone sounded, then the line rang for a few seconds, before a click sounded as the phone was picked up.

'Hel-lo? Precinct One, Officer Clawhauser here,' the familiar voice said, 'how can I help you?'

'Ben!' I said urgently. 'It's Officer Hopps here, I'm gonna need you to pass me on to Bogo's office. I need to talk to him ASAP!'

'Judy?' he asked, confused. 'Why aren't you using the direct office line?'

I rolled my eyes, feeling like my impatience was burning a hole in my stomach. 'I'm calling from a different phone. Not important. Requesting Ten-Fifty-Two at Number Eleven, Markus Street, Tundratown, then pass me on to Chief, please.'

'Got it.' A beep sounded, and the dial tone started again. I waited, feeling more stressed with every second that passed. How long could Nick hold out without _proper_ first-aid? There was a reason, after all, that most paramedics were large mammals.

After what felt like at least another ten seconds, the ringing clicked off. This time, it was the gruff voice of Chief Bogo on the end of the line.

'Hopps, where are you? The forensics team reported back that you weren't on the scene!'

'Chief! I'm with Officer Wilde. The same perps nabbed me. Our current location is Eleven Markus Street, Tundratown.' Another crash from the ground floor made me jump. We _had_ to get out of here, and soon. I looked down at Nick's prone form. Correction: _I_ had to get us out of here. 'I've neutralised the suspected boss and a few others, but we'll need backup from P-3 to get out of here.'

Bogo grunted. 'I'll forward that location to P-3 patrollers in your area. Can you describe the place?'

'Yessir. Location is an old warehouse, with hangar doors at the front. The entrance is at the right side, possibly locked.'

'Okay, putting that through. Hold on.'

The line switched to a pre-recorded voiceover. _'The phone operator has put you on hold. This is normal if the operator is too busy to take your call, or if our system is redirecting you. Please wait patiently. Thank you.'_ The voice stopped, replaced by quiet elevator music. Hearing something so normal in a situation like this was odd, and almost funny somehow.

Another tense minute passed, Nick's heartbeat still weak and sluggish. The tension was palpable, I felt like a taut rubber band. An utterly useless rubber band. Like I'd been snapped, or like I'd become crusty and sticky, too delicate for any situation…

I shook myself. In lieu of thinking of more disgusting rubber-band analogies, and out of curiosity, I padded over to the collar control device. Still holding the phone to my ear, I reached down and picked it up. Closer inspection revealed the thing seemed more cobbled-together than I'd initially thought, like it was an unfinished prototype. Several command buttons with different voltage levels and actions were prominent beneath a number pad, all topped by a dim LED number display. A rough hole in the top of the case accommodated the antenna. I had the feeling I'd seen something important, and my eyes were drawn again to the grid of action buttons. There, in the lower-right corner: a pair of buttons, one marked 'lock' and the other, 'release'.

 _Is this thing for real?_ I ran back to Nick and pointed the remote at his collar, jabbing the release button. I felt relieved as, with a metallic clank not unlike pawcuffs, I saw the strap ejected from the casing. I reached over and stripped it off, tossing the thing away across the floor. It clunked into the motionless pig, drawing no response whatsoever. Still unconscious.

The phone crackled. 'Hopps? Still there?' Bogo spoke, making me start a little. I shook it off, annoyed at my frayed nerves.

'Yes, sir. Still here.'

'Good. The nearest patrollers are on their way, ETA two minutes. Clawhauser told me you requested an ambulance, I'm assuming there's a reason for that. Who is it, and how bad?'

'It's Nick, sir. He received a sustained electric shock which caused heart trauma. And, um…' I looked around at the various awkwardly positioned mammals, deciding how much to tell the Chief. '…a few other, well, unconscious mammals.'

'Officer Wilde?' Bogo grunted. 'The perps had tasers, then?'

'No, sir, it was his collar.'

'His collar, Hopps?' Bogo's voice had an edge of incredulity.

'Yes sir, his collar. Chief, I wasn't going to tell you yet, but things here are pretty serious. I think… I'm pretty sure that this is the TAME collar storage warehouse.' How much of what I'd seen could I squeeze into a phone call? 'And I've… um… _requisitioned_ a device which was in their possession, that appears to control the collars. And the different shock levels.'

'I was under the impression the collars had been independently checked. What makes you think you're in TAME's warehouse, anyway?' he asked.

I glanced through the door. Although I couldn't see the countless boxes from where I was, how much more obvious could you get? 'Well, I can see at least a few hundred boxes with the TAME logo. They're also modifying the collars, that's how they're controlling them.'

'Well that's an… unexpected revelation, to say the least. We'll talk later on a secure line. Use one of the patroller's radios when they get to your location. They should be there soon. Good luck, Hopps.'

'Thanks, Chief.'

The phone beeped and I took it away from my ear, then set it on the floor. I glanced back at Nick, whose breathing was still disturbed and irregular. I reached out with a tentative paw, and stroked the downy fur behind his ears, somehow taking a modicum of comfort from the feeling.

All we could do now was wait.


	7. Chapter 7 - Judy

**A/N: It's back from the dead! I know I haven't posted in months, but I've been very busy, mostly because of build season. Those two words — 'build season' — may not mean much to you, but to me it's weeks on end of sleep, eat, robotics, repeat. If you're interested in robotics and are in high school, PM me for info about the competition I've been in. So here, finally, is the new chapter.**

* * *

It wasn't long before I heard shouting echoing from the other side of the warehouse. Evidently, one of the other workers had noticed something was amiss. I pricked my ears, hoping to hear whether I was in danger of being discovered any time soon, and instead caught the edge of another, more relieving sound; a police siren.

'Hear that, Nick? Backup's on the way. Come on, now, we'll be safe.' Even though he was unconscious, it still felt more natural to talk to him rather than sitting in silence.

The siren grew louder as the seconds passed, and it wasn't long before the chaos downstairs had quieted, the workers probably starting to fear the implied approaching police car.

I tried to judge how long it would take for it to arrive. Would any of the mammals downstairs think to clear these upstairs rooms? I doubted it, provided they had as little time as I thought. Just as I was certain the car was only a street away, the siren cut out.

 _What?!_ I stood up and strained my ears, silencing my own breathing to hear more clearly. Nothing, except the faint whistle of wind through the snowy streets outside.

Crackers! Where did they think they were going? Did they get called off?

I sighed, resigned to the fact that today was really, _really_ not my lucky day, and sat down next to Nick. _Neither_ of our lucky days.

My ears shot up on instinct. I stood up again and quickly padded over to the open door, trying to get a better angle on the sound I was sure I'd just heard. Yes, it was definitely there. The sound of heavy tyres crunching through the snow.

Within seconds, the grinding roar of the security doors opening flooded the air, drowning out even the scratchy footfalls of the panicked mammals sprinting across the warehouse floor to shelter.

The deafening scraping halted with a click, and soon a new set of voices emerged.

'Police! Stand dow— ack!'

Curious, I ran out onto the catwalk in time to see one of the moles sprinting away from a ZPD officer, who was picking a collar casing up off the ground in front of him.

In total there were three officers — A polar bear, who looked gigantic in the medium-mammal warehouse; an old black-and-grey wolf; and a young Arctic Fox, who was wincing as he rubbed a spot on his head.

'Wow, someone's mad!' said the fox, examining the empty metal case then tossing it aside. It bounced across the floor noisily. 'Looks like we're in the right place, anyway. Steel security door, but not even a rolling code. Typical.'

The polar bear grunted his assent.

'You two, listen up.' The wolf was speaking now. His voice had an authoritative tone, one that made me certain he was the most experienced of the three. 'No more screwing around with the guys in here, you know our orders. Snowdin, stay and keep guard. Canimere, with me. We need to turn the place over til we find 'em.'

'Hey!' I called, causing all three to start and look up. 'That won't be necessary, we're up here.'

'Hopps!' called the wolf, looking relieved. 'Is the fox with you?'

'Yes, but you'd better hurry! He's injured pretty badly,' I explained.

'We're rescuing a fox? A red fox?' Asked the Arctic, sounding amused.

The polar bear, Snowdin, stared at him disbelievingly. 'Do you _ever_ pay attention to the outside world? Do you even know who we're here for?' he rumbled in exasperation. 'Besides, _you_ are a fox.'

'I know, but I'm an _arctic_ fox. I didn't know—'

'SHUT IT!' the wolf yelled, then grabbed the Arctic's shoulder and dragged him forward. They both clanked up the metal staircase and quickly made their way along the remaining short stretch of catwalk.

'Hopps, go downstairs and get in the back of the closest patrol car,' said the wolf, pausing outside the door. 'We'll bring Wilde down and take him to Downtown Hospital.'

'I just need to get something, hang on.' I ducked back into the room and stowed the metal collar remote in my pocket. I was about to exit again, but stopped, unable to bear just leaving Nick here. I bent down and quickly kissed the top of his head. 'Good luck,' I whispered.

My ears twitched at the sound of another siren nearby, and I suddenly straightened up and stepped back, remembering the ambulance that Clawhauser had sent.

'Sir?' The wolf, who had just crouched to hoist Nick up, flicked his ears in my direction and grunted. 'Sir, there's an ambulance coming for him anyway. We just need to get him downstairs.'

He grunted again, and I took that as an agreement. It seemed that Chief Bogo wasn't the _only_ veteran policemammal who'd replaced large portions of his vocabulary with throat noises. I took a deep breath in, then out, and ran downstairs to signal the ambulance driver.

Outside, the sky had started to darken. The wind had picked up a little, and the snow was thicker on the ground than when we were here last. As I walked out to the end of the drive, the ambulance's headlight beams swung out into the street, lighting up the snow. I beckoned to the driver, and they turned the siren off before slowing down as they approached the narrow driveway. I ran back down the drive to the warehouse, the ambulance cautiously following. The wolf and Arctic fox had managed to lift Nick down the stairs and were carrying him towards it.

I knew I should be going to the police car and waiting, as per my orders. But I was off-duty, and I had to check something first. With all the time that the mammals in the warehouse had had to escape, surely they would think to… yes. Of course they had. As I walked closer to the forklift that had been the scene of Sharpe's getting tased, it was clear I'd been correct; no porcupine was slumped in the driver's seat. He'd been taken, probably hidden away somewhere he could be sure to wake up without pawcuffs. But maybe, just maybe, there was a chance he and the others were hiding somewhere here, within the maze of passages bounded by the warehouse walls. I hadn't seen any other exits from the outside, so it was an almost certainty.

I ran back outside in time to see the ambulance start its sirens again and drive off.

I watched it round the corner, now struggling to stop myself sprinting after and demanding to ride alongside Nick. As soon as it had disappeared, I mentally shook myself, knowing I had to concentrate on things closer at hand. Specifically, searching the warehouse for the porcupine and his cronies.

'Hopps, in the car, please,' called the wolf, sounding weary.

'Sir, I'm not sure we should leave yet.' He raised an eyebrow at me, and I continued, 'We need to search the building. This is a major crime scene, and it's possible the perpetrators are still here.'

'I'm afraid I can't allow that, Hopps,' he replied, 'our orders are to bring you back to P1. You know the rules.'

'But sir, if the perps are still in the warehouse, we—'

'Hopps!' he interrupted sternly, 'Orders are orders. Besides, may I remind you who is the _on-duty_ cop here? And,' he sighed, then gestured toward me, 'who is not?'

I broke off and stared at him, my mouth still open as the words that had been on the tip of my tongue shrivelled and faded. I swallowed. He was probably right. Half of me wanted to argue, say that this was too important to worry about being off-duty. But the other half knew, as much as I hated it, that disobeying would get me nowhere. Nowhere except maybe the other end of a vigilantism charge.

'Can you get Chief Bogo on the radio? Please?' I asked. Hopefully he'd be able to back me up.

'Sorry Hopps, I know what you're thinking. He specifically ordered us to not let you get involved with this lot again, at least until you're back on duty.'

I stood for a few seconds, silently fuming. I wanted to be angry. I was just _so close,_ and if we could take Sharpe in now, well… that would be the end of it. No more evil organisation manipulating the lives of predators. But I also knew why Bogo had made that decision. He was too sensible. He'd decided to pull us out until more information was available, knowing that we weren't equipped for an operation of this scale. A quintessentially ZPD strategic move, but one that could cost much more than its worth.

I sighed, giving in, and opened the back door of the police cruiser. I jumped up to the wolf-sized seat and pulled out the small-mammal seatbelt, then fastened it. I patted my pockets to make sure I had the remote, the large bulge being hard to miss. The wolf climbed into the driver's seat and the Arctic fox, Canimere, into the passenger's. The engine turned over and, tyres crunching against snow, we followed the larger cruiser being driven by the polar bear.

'Hey, um, Officer…' I began.

'Greyfang,' he grunted.

'Officer Greyfang. I just wanted to say, well… thanks, I guess,' I mumbled, feeling mildly embarrassed at having to be rescued from my own mistakes.

He didn't reply, steadfastly concentrating on the snowy bitumen ahead as we continued down the road.

* * *

The journey to Precinct One felt alarmingly short. Maybe it was because I'd been to Tundratown and back many times in the course of the day. Maybe it was that the day's extreme stress had left me drained, my mind reduced to a half-sleep. It didn't help that the fox, Officer Canimere, talked the whole way. It didn't matter that neither Greyfang nor I responded, he kept at it, monologuing his recent transfer to the ZPD from another city's force where, it transpired, Arctic Foxes were held in much higher esteem than Reds.

Whatever the cause, it was disconcerting when, with a small jerk, the cruiser came to a stop in a parking bay, shaking me out of my trance. I unclipped my seatbelt and stood up, looking around through the windows. The sky had darkened significantly. The automatic lights in the car park had turned on, the ageing fluorescent tubes flickering in a vain attempt to increase visibility.

Tugging at the interior door handle, I discovered it was locked.

'Hah, sorry about that,' said Canimere, 'Just a precaution. I'll get it.' He clicked open his door and walked around, then opened mine. I jumped down to the ground.

'Thanks,' I said, wondering what had justified their "precaution". Was I a flight risk?

I padded off around to the front doors of the building, both officers from the small car trailing me. Pushing my way through the revolving door, I found that the sweeping central area was close to deserted. Clawhauser had fallen asleep at his desk. The bright interior of Precinct One was almost blinding after the gloomy car park, and I wondered if formerly nocturnal species found the lighting uncomfortable. Over the millennia, species had rapidly evolved to become more like one another, but many useful traits stayed strongly within certain groups. And the ability to see at night still proved useful for many.

Chief Bogo was leaning on the edge of the walkway outside his office. As soon as he saw me looking at him, he jerked his head back and walked through the door.

I jogged up the staircase, noticing the many empty offices on the way up. Apparently, not many mammals were willing to work this shift. I reached Bogo's office and slowed down as I went through the door.

Bogo was seated behind his desk, reading a paper in a blue binder. He took his glasses off and set them down on the paper.

'Take a seat, Hopps,' he said, and I obliged, jumping up to the large office chair. He sighed heavily, then fell silent. I nervously waited for the reprimand that I knew was coming. There was no rushing the chief. He said what he wanted to say, when he wanted to say it, and pity those who spoke out of line. I scratched the back of my paw, concentrating without purpose at a spot on his desk. Finally, he spoke again.

'Hopps.' I made eye contact. 'Now, there's a lot to say here, so I'll do this in the order I'll have to deal with it.'

He cleared his throat. 'Firstly, what _exactly_ made you think it was in any way acceptable to start an investigation into TAME? _Especially_ ,' he spoke over me, seeing that I was about to interrupt, 'as, if I remember correctly, you were off-duty at the time?'

'Sir, I didn't really mean to start a _new_ investigation.' I paused, trying to phrase what we'd done in a way that implied minimum law-breaking. 'We were, um, gathering evidence for the explosion case, and it lead us to… to this. We, ah, felt compelled to go ahead, since there was only one opp—'

'Hopps! That's enough, I understand what's happened here.' He took a deep breath in, then let it out. 'You and Officer Wilde were discussing your joint suspension. You wondered why, as the two officers who'd witnessed the explosion in Tundratown, you hadn't been thoroughly questioned in order for other officers to take up the case. So, you decided to take your own action.' He leaned in closer. 'Am I correct?'

I blinked in surprise. 'Yes, sir. Yes you are.' Most of what he'd described sounded exactly like when I was justifying my own actions in my head.

He snorted, then rocked back against his chair. 'You two aren't the first, and I'd be kidding myself if I thought you were the last. Suspensions always seem unfair, and yours especially so. Secondly… I guess I owe you an apology.'

'An apology? Why?' I asked.

'For being dismissive when you contacted me about Officer Wilde's abduction. I assumed you were overreacting, and… I'm sorry to admit I was a bit short with you.'

I nodded. It wasn't something I'd thought about, having been preoccupied at the time, but his initial disbelief must have been something that had weighed on him more than I'd thought.

'Apology accepted, Chief. There're more important things to worry about.'

He snorted. 'Correct, Hopps. Which is why I hope you'll forgive me for taking some more of your time. Now, from your initial report, I know you've been under a lot of stress today, but I'd like you to describe _what_ has been happening, and _who_ the perpetrators are.' I nodded, ready to launch into the narrative, when he spoke again. 'And, Hopps… don't leave out any details. When this case opens, it could be more important than anything I've dealt with.'

* * *

The whole story took the better part of half an hour to tell, during which Bogo only interrupted to ask for further detail a few times. I found that, even though I'd thought my energy had been spent when I'd started, telling the story served to keep me awake. It felt as if by repeating the events I was not only getting them off my chest, but re-living the moments of panic, horror, and hurt, causing my heart to race more than a few times. Now that I wasn't focussed on escape, however, my mind was free to ponder the full ramifications of what Nick and I had seen. It seemed even more imperative than before that the mammals behind this operation were found and jailed, before they caused even more havoc with the collars. And with an operation that big? Well, I couldn't help thinking that we'd been lucky to get out alive, with backup or without.

I finished my story with being driven away by the Precinct Three officers, having been restrained from searching the warehouse. Chief Bogo sat, apparently absorbed by his own thoughts.

'I take it you still have the device you mentioned?' He finally asked.

'Yes, sir. I've got it here.' I pulled the hefty metal thing out of my pocket and stood up, handing it over along with the phone. Bogo carefully took them, both now looking comically undersized in his large hoof.

'Hmm,' was his only response. He reached for the phone on his desk, put it to his ear, then tapped a button. I heard it ring for a few seconds before the click indicated it had been picked up. A voice was audible on the other end of the line. 'Yes, I know it's late,' Bogo replied, 'this is urgent stuff. I need you to come to my office now, I've got some items I need you to analyse.'

He listened for a few seconds while the voice on the other end raised in volume. His ever-present scowl deepened in irritation. 'Yes, of course now!' He put the receiver down with an air of restraint, as though he'd just stopped himself from slamming it.

We waited for about half a minute before the office door burst open, admitting a scowling middle-aged badger in a white coat. Her collar, seemingly confused, was blinking between green and yellow. I had a vague feeling that I knew her from somewhere, but after a few seconds of thought I dismissed the notion.

'Ah, good. You did decide to show, after all,' said Bogo.

'Chief, I was _this_ close to knocking it off for the day,' she complained, pinching two claws together.

He peered at her over his desk. 'Then what a shame it is that something vital to peace in Zootopia has turned up.'

Her eyebrows rose. 'In _my_ department?'

He snorted in frustration. 'Yes, in your department! Why else would _you_ be in my office?'

She turned her head, looking at him now with poorly suppressed curiosity. 'Chief, this had better be worth my overtime. I mean, it's not often I get something actually _important_ to analyse these days.'

His expression hardened briefly. 'Oh, I'm sure you'll find these very… illuminating to play with.' He stood up and walked around his desk, reaching down to hand over the phone and controller. The badger took them without comment and scrutinised them, first looking over the phone. She quickly shifted her attention to the more interesting device, turning it over in her paw, running her claws over the buttons.

'Very homebrew… It controls the collars?' she asked, directing the question at me. As she turned her head, I again had the impression I'd seen her face before.

'Yep,' I said, nodding. She focussed her attention solely on it again, still looking carefully at the buttons and number pad.

'Ah,' she exhaled. She tapped in a few numbers on the pad, and they flickered into place on the screen, replacing the previous sequence.

'What are you doing?' I asked, peering curiously over her shoulder. She didn't answer, instead taking a deep breath before plunging a claw into the button that corresponded with the lowest shock setting. Her collar flashed red. 'Wo— careful!' I warned, but it was too late. She flinched, clearly having felt it burn, and dropped the controller at her feet.

A moment passed. She slowly let her breath out, allowing the air to whistle through her teeth. ' _That_ was quite something.' She leaned down and picked up the phone and controller. 'The screen shows the collar's serial number, by the way,' she said conversationally, gesturing to the ten-digit code. 'Clumsy system, but it works well enough.' I stared at her in wonder, then looked at the screen. _Her code_. She'd just zapped herself, _on purpose,_ to test a theory. I couldn't help but feel impressed at her resolution.

'Interesting,' said Bogo, sounding as though it were anything but. 'I'd expect you could find something of more substance down in the labs, though. I suggest you go there now, as I have more to discuss with Officer Hopps. Dismissed.'

' _That_ can be done,' she murmured to herself, turning her back and walking from the room.

Chief Bogo noticed my look of pained curiosity. 'Surely, you remember Doctor Madge? She's with our forensic tech department now.'

And then I remembered. A gloomy asylum. Cages. Clipboard and lab coat.

I gasped. 'She was the one who tried to warn Lionheart! Wasn't she?' Bogo nodded in confirmation. 'But then how—'

'How did she get here? She testified against Lionheart in court. That, plus her relatively minor role in holding the mammals against their will, was enough for the conspiracy charges against her to be thrown out,' he said. 'After that, well… we needed someone who was good with technology, and she fit the bill. It seems she had experience beyond neuroscience.'

I smiled. 'I'm glad she got the job. She seems like a fine mammal.'

Bogo hummed uncertainly. 'She's got her heart in the right place, for sure. Her attitude, however, is another matter.' He shook his head. 'Returning to the original reason I wanted you here. We haven't finished with the matter of your experiences today.'

I cringed internally, having suspected I wasn't about to be dismissed as quickly as Madge. 'Yes…sir?'

'This Sharpe person,' Bogo asked, pulling forward a sheet of paper and pencil, 'give me a description. We'll need more than a name to go off.'

'Well…' I thought back, recalling his exact appearance, '…he was a Crested Porcupine, by the look of him. A bit taller than me, so maybe about four foot. He was wearing a pinstriped suit jacket and trousers. He had a small scar just below his right eye,' I rattled off. I paused to think again, remembering that there was another detail, something possibly more important than his appearance.

Bogo's pencil kept scratching for a few moments while he finished noting, then stopped. 'Anything else?'

'Y…yes, sir. I think he let slip something about his parents being killed by a predator.'

Bogo tilted his head. 'That…' he drew out the word, ' _that_ is very interesting. You're sure about that?'

I nodded. 'Hard to mis-hear someone who's threatening your… partner.' I quickly checked myself, surprised that I'd almost said something stronger. Thankfully, Bogo didn't seem to notice the slip-up.

What was going on with me? I couldn't just accidentally tell our boss that Nick and I were… well, what were we? I wasn't sure either of us really knew. More than just partners, definitely more than friends. I couldn't let Bogo know, accidentally or on purpose. That would be a total betrayal of Nick's trust.

Besides, that kind of fraternisation was in a very grey area of ZPD workplace policy. The best possible outcome would be if the Chief decided we worked together too well to split up. That didn't seem likely, however. We'd probably end up reassigned to different partners just to satisfy the paper pushers in the management department.

'Earth to Hopps.' I snapped back to reality, realising I must have been silent for too long.

'Y-yes sir?' I stuttered. His eyebrows raised.

'As I was saying, it's possible you could find a lead to Sharpe based on his parents' deaths. Even if it wasn't known to the City's BDM registry, mammals don't go missing without someone getting curious.'

I noticed his use of the word "you", realising the implications it had in the context of my suspension. 'Chief, I'm not sure I heard you correctly, but are you suggesting that Nick and I…'

He briefly let a genuine smile cross his face. 'Yes… the final thing that's been brought to my attention. Due to the confusion surrounding the order of your suspension, and probably because I kicked up a stink, it's likely Wilde and yourself will be reinstated to your roles soon.'

'Yes!' I exclaimed, pumping my fist and hopping in my joy. Bogo stared at me, a slight frown making his annoyance known. 'Sorry, sir. I mean, that's wonderful!'

He nodded. 'Of course, you'll be working the case alone, at least until Wilde gets a full medical. With all the chaos going on right now, I really can't get a temporary partner to help you out.'

'That's good. He shouldn't be straining himself, and I can manage on my own.' I paused, processing what Bogo had just said. 'Wait a bit, what chaos?'

Bogo grunted. 'Do you watch the news, Hopps?'

I nodded. 'Usually, I guess…'

'Ha. Well, while you and Wilde were in your own little bubble, playing cops…' _Ouch._ I mentally winced at the jab, '…the rest of the force has been flat-out trying to keep order. If you thought predators were just going to accept the council's position, then I pity your sense of judgement.'

He shuffled through the papers on his desk which, I noticed, seemed to have increased drastically in quantity from the usual number. 'Riots, vandalism of council buildings, property damage, resisting arrest, et cetera, et cetera.' He waved a hoof in front of his face, as if the public disturbance was a cloud of particularly annoying flies. ' _That_ is what I mean by chaos,' he finished, looking grim.

'Oh,' was all I could manage.

'I know you're not technically back yet, but I'd suggest getting a head-start on the paperwork you've missed. I don't want this to turn into any more of a dung-storm for Officer Wilde and yourself than it already is.'

I nodded, realising with a sinking feeling that he was right. There was a _lot_ of work to do.

'Dismissed, Officer Hopps.'


	8. Chapter 8 - Judy

**A/N: Sorry ladies and gentlemen, this is gonna be a short one. Unfortunately it's been exam time here in Australia, so I've been busy studying (or so I tell myself...) I may try this format of posting shorter chapters more often, just to see if it works better. Let me know what you think!**

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I teetered on the edge of panic, struggling to keep myself from breaking into a flat-out sprint down the stairs. I had to find Nick, there was just no way I could stand not knowing what had happened to him. Had he been taken to hospital in time? Stabilised? I didn't know. I couldn't know, unless I got there as quickly as possible.

The thoughts chased each other unbidden around in my head, each followed by another, more awful possibility. I jumped the last few steps and hit the ground running, my mind racing still faster than my body. I was fully aware that I was sinking into a panic, but I didn't have the luxury of time to calm myself.

'Judy!'

At first I kept running, so focussed that I didn't register the exclamation of my name.

'Hey! Judy!' It was Clawhauser, sitting behind his desk and looking surprised. I skidded to a stop, almost losing my balance as I spun on the floor.

'Oh! Hey, Benjamin!' I smiled, but only out of politeness. I probably looked more terrified than pleased to see him, and it didn't escape his notice.

'What's wrong?' He asked, his ears lowering slightly. 'I haven't seen you or Wilde for a while.'

I paused for a moment, getting my thoughts in order. 'We've been… suspended.' I could feel the time pressure bearing down upon me like a vice, and wondered why I'd even stopped for Clawhauser.

He looked shocked. 'Suspended? But why?'

'Don't worry, it was just a mistake, it's okay now,' I said, rushing to end the conversation. 'Anyways, I have to, got stuff to… I've gotta go, bye.' I started sidestepping away.

'Well… okay then. Bye.' He looked slightly hurt, as if he wasn't quite sure why he'd been shut off so quickly. I turned fully around and power-walked the remaining distance, twisting my paws in an attempt to relieve some of the stress that had been building up inside me. Downtown Hospital was only a short tram ride away, after all.

I walked out to the stop and waited, hoping that one of the less-frequent night trams would arrive soon. The fresh night air was a change for the better from the recirculated, stuffy office air. I slowly ran my claws through my ear fur, the soothing motion relaxing my agitated state of mind. Within five minutes an older, tired-looking tram rattled to a stop on the rails, the door opening with a snakelike hiss. I jumped aboard, and the doors shut again. I sat down in the closest seat to the door, wanting the best view of where we were going, and the carriage lurched off down the tracks. Chewing at an index claw nervously, I tried to keep my mind blank. There was no point in panicking. I couldn't control what had happened, but still... it didn't stop me from being afraid of the worst.

The tram trundled along for another few minutes, following the curves of the track as it twisted around the central streets of Zootopia, before it slowed to a halt at the stop outside Downtown Hospital. The doors opened, and I jumped out onto the pavement. The tram groaned as it pulled out and away, and I made my way inside the lobby.

The receptionist was very helpful, looking Nick up on the computer system and giving me the ward number. I took the elevator up to the twelfth floor, then paced along the corridor. Each door had two small plaques; one with a number, and the other with the name of a doctor. I moved with ever-increasing urgency, counting up the numbers, _10…11…12… 13._ The name emblazoned on the plaque read; 'Doctor Yves R. Slippton'.

I stopped, then approached the door hesitantly and knocked. 'Wait a second,' said a reedy voice from within.

The door opened a crack, revealing a greying ferret wearing thick, round glasses. He squinted through them, scrutinising me for a brief moment, before sighing and nodding lightly. 'Visiting? Yes, I thought you'd be here. Come in.' He pushed the door open fully.

I walked in, putting my paw over my mouth when I saw Nick. He was lying on the hospital bed as though he'd been thrown there, an IV pole and heart-rate monitor next to him. The wires and tubes from these snaked across to his left arm. His eyes were closed, but I could hear the small puffs of air as he breathed in and out, as well as the reassuringly steady beeps of the monitor.

I let my paw fall. I ran to his bedside, and lightly grasped his right paw, my ears drooping as I noted it was colder than normal.

'Oh, Nick…' I whispered, terrified at the state he was in. 'Will he be all right?' I asked louder, a note of desperation in the question.

The ferret tilted his head. 'Yes…' He was evidently trying hard to maintain his professional mask, but I heard his hesitation nevertheless. 'Considering the circumstances, he's doing fairly well. He's received some heart trauma, but he was also in shock for quite a while, which is why we've had to put him under.' Again he squinted at me, then looked down and readjusted his glasses. 'You're Judy Hopps, aren't you?' he asked. 'The ZPD officer?'

I blinked in surprise. 'Yes. Yes I am.'

'Well, I feel that you ought to know something. Mr Wilde was talking in his sleep earlier, just after the medications had begun to take effect.' He paused. 'It was hard to understand him, but he was saying something along the lines of, "I have to tell Judy. She needs to know." If that means anything to you…' he trailed off, obviously curious himself.

I quickly disengaged my paw from Nick's behind my back, hoping he wouldn't notice the movement. 'I don't think so, no.' I cringed.

'Mmm,' he said, walking away to his desk. He sat down, pulled a piece of file paper and pen towards him, and started scribbling. I looked back to Nick, knowing with a horrid certainty that this was my fault. We could have, _should_ have walked away from the case. Going back to the warehouse had been madness, and I'd been the start of it all. I lowered my head and sniffled, feeling a wave of regret surge through me. It had _always_ been my fault, ever since we'd met. I was always the judging one, the one hurting Nick. And what had he shown me? Respect, patience, and maybe… maybe even love?

A brief red flicker in my vision drew my eye to the plastic trolley that comprised Nick's bedside table, interrupting the thoughts that had caused my eyes to well up. The trolley had several metal shelves, most of them seemingly empty. The flicker happened again, and this time I saw that it was a reflection from one of the lower shelves. I craned my head down, and to my surprise, found myself looking at a shock collar. Nick's, I guessed. I watched, wondering what had caused the flickering. The collar's glaring green was the only light I could see coming from this shelf.

Briefly, almost too quick to be noticed, the collar's light flashed a dull red. I reached in and snatched it up, examining it closely. I wasn't sure what I was looking for, but I wanted some kind of confirmation that it'd been tampered with. And after a few moments of searching, I found it. There were six small screws holding the backplate together, and these had originally been coated with black paint. That paint was now chipped away, leaving bare metal exactly where a screwdriver would have contacted it.

I glanced at Nick, seeing the burnt fringes of fur around a bandage on his neck. Well, now I knew for certain that his collar had been tampered with. Big deal, I'd already known that. His collar had been one of the many I'd seen, being taken apart at the warehouse. So why did I still feel that I was missing something?

'Excuse me, sir…' I addressed the ferret, who looked up from his documents. 'Has this collar been tested? For, um… faults?' His head snapped around, and he let out a low hiss.

'Put that down!' I paused, nonplussed by his sudden change in tone. 'Quickly, back on the shelf!'

Still confused, I complied, setting the collar on the edge of the top tray with a _chink._ The doctor took a deep, shaky breath.

'Sorry, sir,' I ventured, hoping for an explanation.

'That's quite alright,' he said, removing his glasses and polishing them on his coat. 'We have been told, I am afraid, to not allow visitors to handle removed collars. It's unsafe.'

That sounded sensible enough. 'O…kay. But _has_ it been checked?'

He shook his head. 'We're not allowed to handle that. The collar system is new, and they say it'll take a few weeks for the equipment to be distributed.'

'What?!' I exclaimed, shocked at such a basic oversight. 'But sir, his collar isn't— it isn't functioning properly! I was there when it happened.'

'I'm truly sorry,' he said, sounding genuinely so, 'but the best that can be done is to hope this was a once-off.'

I was getting desperate now. There was no way I could let them put that collar back on Nick. It was too much of a risk to assume that it wouldn't be activated again.

'Oh,' I said, pulling my best impression of disappointed acceptance, 'that's a shame.'

'Indeed it is,' he said. 'If there were any way to avoid it…' he shook his head and huffed in frustration, his paws unconsciously fidgeting with his own smaller collar.

 _If there were any way to avoid it…_ I glanced guiltily at the collar that lay on the metal tray, knowing that my next move could be a risky one. So, I wanted to stop it being put back on Nick. But how? Obvious, really; steal the collar. I bit my lip. _Now_ I was thinking like a criminal. Stealing that collar would be dangerous, idiotic, and rash, not to mention very definitely illegal. I couldn't do it. As a police officer, it was my duty to uphold the law, and sometimes that meant doing things that weren't right. It was one of the first things we were taught at the Academy; we followed the letter of the law, even when we thought it was unfair.

Nick stirred lightly. I stared at him, feeling agonisingly torn. He just seemed so… vulnerable. Seeing him like this… could I really do that to him? Let them put the collar back on? If I _did_ steal this one, surely they'd give him another. And that would be a new one, an unmodified collar. Slightly safer… I think I could do that for Nick.

I breathed in deeply, steeling myself. As the ferret turned back to his desk, I reached out and pawed the collar, accidentally allowing it to scrape a little. The doctor's ears twitched, and I hurriedly stuffed it in my pocket.

This was insane. I cringed at just how visible the bulge was on the side of my pants. How had I not thought about that? Oh, well. I'd decided what was to be done, now I just had to carry out the remainder of my task. Time to get out of here. But how to do so without being noticed? I decided my best option was to simply make a rush for the door, and hope the ferret didn't notice the obviously absent collar.

'Excuse me,' I spoke quickly, turning myself so the bulging pocket faced away. 'Thanks, sir, but I'd better get go–' he turned rapidly. _Please don't look at the tray, please don't look—_

He glanced at the tray, then at me, his eyes full of frightening realisation. I felt my stomach drop in fear. He had seen the collar was gone, but he didn't acknowledge it, instead twisting back around and staring determinedly at the papers on his desk. 'Thank you for visiting, Miss Hopps.' His voice had a slight tremor, and his collar was now flicking between yellow and green. 'I suggest you leave now. Please.'

 _What?_ I hadn't been prepared for this, whatever it was. This co-operation. I scrambled to the door and opened it, stepping through, but turned to take one last look at the room. There was Nick, thankfully stable. The doctor was still looking purposefully away from me, but I could see the slight wetness in the corner of his eye, and realised that of course he, too, was considered a predator. He couldn't do anything overtly against the rules for fear of losing his job, but in letting me escape, he'd found a way to wage his own war.

On that sombre thought, I continued out to the hall, knowing it would be an uphill battle from here on out.


End file.
